Loose Ends
by Denebola Leo
Summary: As Cloud and Tifa slowly put the past behind them, a serial killer begins a silent and brutal rampage. With Evan Townshend's assistance they hope to find the elusive murderer before their loved ones are targeted. (Rated for future depictions of gore and a small amount of smut, no lemons though)
1. The Beginning of a Nightmare

**Story time! I bounced another, older work with kelleyj17, and this is the result. She's been betaing the story and giving thoughts and pointers on this little crime mystery. It should start slow to get everything into place, but expect some depictions of gore, a little smut and some other stuff when I get to it. I mean you should already expect bad stuff from me when I hit that horror button, but I digress. I might release the original story much later as a companion piece, but that won't be for a while.  
**

* * *

Tifa sat at the family table after fixing up breakfast for her family, the ceiling fan ceaselessly trying to cool the warm air of early summer. She scooped up some of her oatmeal and glanced at the other three as she began to eat, Denzel and Marlene still bleary eyed and yawning. Cloud was sipping his coffee, reading a folded newspaper he held in one hand. He looked up as her gaze lingered, then gave her a small smile before returning to the paper.

Yesterday had been a good day.

She closed the bar and Cloud didn't take any deliveries, and they took a road trip to Kalm. They visited Elmyra, who commented that Marlene was bigger than ever and that Denzel was going to be a rather tall man some day. They had tea together before leaving to visit the other areas of the town, conversing about their day to day routines and little stories here and there.

As they left, Cloud held Tifa's hand and motioned his head towards a small restaurant front that was set up close to the protective wall of the town. "Hey, d'you wanna try that place out? They're really good."

Tifa glanced the way he had pointed. It looked rather cozy to her. "If you say they're good, I'd like to check it out." She looked down at the children, Marlene holding the hand Cloud wasn't softly rubbing with his thumb. Denzel held to Cloud's arm, looking about the town and eyeing some of the merchant stalls they passed by. "They have a kids menu, right?"

Cloud was silent for a few moments before making a deep, uncertain hum with his throat. "Um, I don't really know...I think they'll like the food, though."

She snorted and giggled at his awkward answer, squeezing his hand gently. "Yeah, they'll be fine."

It was a hole in the wall restaurant he frequented for lunch if he was in the area, with some of the freshest fish the town had to offer he had explained. Cloud had ordered his regular, a salmon dish made with a local cream sauce Tifa was vaguely familiar with and unsurprised with his choice. The Nibel area they were from made use of cream sauces frequently, and food was one of the only things either of them felt nostalgia over. Food only ever brought about the good memories of their hometown.

Tifa had decided a pasta dish would be nice. She hadn't had fresh pasta in a very long time.

"What's this?" Marlene pointed at the name of a dish on the menu she held.

"Octopus tentacles," Denzel teased before either Cloud or Tifa could answer.

She made a face and shook her head. "That's gross."

"Denzel..." Tifa tsked before looking at the menu, frowning. "Oh. Well, yes...that's what it is."

Cloud let out a low chuckle. "It's not as bad as it sounds, Marlene."

Marlene shook her head. "I want the rice bowl. I know that's good."

They finished up their orders and relaxed into their chairs, Cloud's eyes scanning the restaurant then falling on Tifa. She gave him a reassuring smile. He always tended to scan his surroundings for anything out of place, a habit from their journey to defeat Sephiroth. Old habits died hard, she mused to herself.

Denzel tugged on Cloud's shirt to get his attention. Cloud looked down at him and raised a brow. "Can we go to the beach after this?"

Cloud looked up at Tifa. "If it's alright with you..."

Tifa nodded. "That would be nice."

Their meals came out after a while and they started to eat, Cloud and Tifa sharing a bite of their meals as the children jokingly argued over what was better, Marlene's rice bowl or Denzel's fried trout. At one point as they almost finished their meals Tifa caught Cloud staring at a woman at another table, causing her to frown. Tifa looked at the woman, examining her. "Someone you know?"

He turned his gaze to Tifa and shrugged. "Tryin' to remember. I know I've seen her somewhere."

"Well, you come to Kalm often enough that one of the restaurants know what you like to eat," she said with a grin. "You've probably delivered to her and forgot."

Cloud nodded, laughing lightly. "Yeah, maybe that's it." He finished off the last few bites on his plate before turning his head back to look at Tifa, an amused smile dancing on his lips. "Don't tell me you were gettin' jealous."

Tifa let out a little snort before sipping her drink. "Not nearly to the point you can get to at the bar," she teased, giving him a quick wink. He gently grabbed her wrist and gave it a squeeze, the worn leather of his gloves soft on her skin.

After paying for their meals the makeshift family made their way to the beach at the bay, Marlene and Denzel kicking off their shoes and folding up their pants to wade in the small waves after being given two plastic buckets by their guardians. Cloud and Tifa watched from the sandy shore, sitting down next to each other. Tifa leaned on him and he placed his arm on her shoulder, inviting her to rest her head near his chest. It felt good, the warmth from the sun and the sea breeze, the sound of the children talking and giggling and Cloud's even breathing as he watched over them all.

"We should really do this more often..." Tifa murmured.

She felt Cloud move to look down at her, then felt his fingers move the stray hairs on her face the breeze had flapped out of place. "I think so, too. I...don't feel as burdened as I used to, anymore..."

Tifa knew instinctively what he meant; they both had burdens from the past, and they both had different and similar ways of confronting them. Slowly they were coming to terms with everything, it just seemed it had taken Cloud a little bit longer for one reason or another. He was content at the moment, and that was good enough for her. "I'm glad." Tifa put her arm around Cloud's waist. "Still just one day at a time, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah. No more dilly-dallying, though."

They spent most of the afternoon on the beach, Denzel and Marlene leaving with a bucketful of colorful shells each. They all made their way to a small pizza shop for an early dinner before making their way back to Edge in time for bed. For the children, at least. Cloud had pressed Tifa against the wall as soon as the door to their room was closed, passionately kissing her and grinding against her hips. He lifted his head after a few minutes, Tifa relinquishing his lower lip from between her teeth as he rose. "It's still a bit early," he said with a smirk, his voice low and husky. "and we didn't get to play on the beach this afternoon."

Tifa let out a little giggle as she slowly unzipped Cloud's vest. "You'll have to take me out there again sometime, just us two..."

Cloud was frantically working on the buttons of her blouse, chuckling. "Maybe when they go to Corel for a week." He hissed as he sucked in a breath, Tifa was dancing the fingers of her free hand over his chest. His skin was hot to the touch, making the summer air seem cool in comparison.

Her hands made their way down as the zipper parted and she worked on Cloud's belt blindly, feeling the metal buckle and the leather strap loosen enough for her to slide a hand down his pants. He paused his work on the front of Tifa's bra and let out a low groan before jerking his hips forward as she moved her hand up and down. Cloud's eyes met her's. "Aren't you eager..." he said as he rubbed a hard nipple through the fabric of her partially unhinged bra.

She smirked up at him before slipping her hand out of his pants and wrapped her arms around his neck, then kissed him again. He hitched her thigh up to his hip, gliding his hand over the skin slowly and making her moan into his mouth. Before she knew it they were both on the bed, playfully wrestling over who would be on top. A little pinch of the nipple here, and Cloud rolled on top and grinded teasingly into her wet panties. A grab at Cloud's privates there, and Tifa would climb onto him and tease him with her nails as she sat over his groin. Tifa eventually won, but found no complaints from Cloud as she took control.

Tifa had woken up that morning entwined in Cloud's limbs, his arm holding her tightly to his chest. It had been a very good day for the both of them. Cloud hadn't shown even a smidgen of anxiety but for his lookout habit.

He had been so happy as of late, too. Cloud's last episode where his anxiety and PTSD reared their ugly heads was sometime late the month before last, but was oddly and refreshingly short lived. After a period of two days where he shut himself up in his office muttering to himself he abruptly left, going for a long drive on Fenrir one evening. Tifa wanted to beg him to stay, but something in those mako soaked eyes kept her quiet; he needed to be alone. She didn't sleep the entire night, fretting over him. Tifa felt a wave of relief wash over her when Cloud returned a little after dawn, tired but strangely serene. Tifa could smell the lilies of the church on him that morning, but thought nothing of it. If the church and Aerith could help heal him where she could not, she would accept it. So long as Cloud was here to stay, as long as he found his way back to his family.

Tifa squinted her eyes at an article on the other side of the paper Cloud held as he ate his breakfast. _'Another strange death.'_ It was ruled suspicious, a body found in the sewers by city workers several days ago. The paper claimed it was identified as an Eli Frentwheel. She frowned; wasn't that the customer with an old tab? Tifa decided to look at the list later.

Cloud knocked back the rest of his coffee and put the paper down. "Guess I better get going. I've got a lot of deliveries today, but I should be home in time for dinner."

"Really?" Marlene asked hopefully.

He nodded. "I won't have to go out to Fort Condor today. Just Junon, Kalm, and some of the farms near Kalm."

"If you come home late we'll just have to stay up and wait for you." Denzel said with a wry smile.

Tifa shook her head. "I don't care if it's summer vacation, you two are keeping to a schedule." She looked at Cloud with a half smile. "Don't tempt them."

He let out a small chuckle as he lifted himself from his seat. "I'll try not to."

He said his goodbyes to his family before leaving on Fenrir, the motorcycle's rumbling engine disappearing into the distance. Tifa cleaned up the table after the children were finished with their meals, then let them go out to play. It was a little early, but the other children in the neighborhood would be out soon. It would be warm and humid today, Edge situated on the shores of the North Sea that connected to North Continent. It kept the city cooler than the villages near Chocobo Farm but the humidity more than made up for it.

Tifa walked over to the counter of the bar, newspaper in hand, and took a look at the tab ledger she took from under the till. Her nimble fingers went down the list of names written on the paper, resting on the name from the newspaper. Eli Frentwheel, one hundred fifty gil. It was dated over three weeks ago. Tifa let out a little huff; she wondered who he could have possibly upset to have ended up dead in a sewer. That is, if it was a murder and not an accident. The newspaper left much to the imagination.

Eli was becoming a regular at her bar after showing up one evening two months ago. Middle aged and friendly, talking about his day as a guard for one of the local banks from time to time. Tifa thought Cloud would pay no attention to him considering Eli's age and lack of interest in her, but on the nights Cloud and Eli occupied the bar together she would catch Cloud glaring at him. Cloud never said anything to Tifa, though. It wasn't like the other, younger men, when he might make a passing remark.

She had asked one night what his problem was. _"It's not like he's flirting with me, Cloud. Why does he have you sulking?"_

Cloud had a dark pout on his face, arms crossed tightly on top of his chest. _"He just seems off to me."_

With that Tifa had rolled her eyes and sighed, tossing a dishcloth onto the counter. She loved him but sometimes he could be so jealous, she had thought. Being like that towards an older customer, that was a habit Tifa would like to stamp out.

Not that it mattered anymore in this case. Eli was dead. She scratched out the name, a faint sadness in her heart. He had been rather nice.

She cleaned up around the house before some last minute touches to the bar, ready for the lunch crowd. Customers trickled in here and there, a local detective that was a regular at her establishment sitting by the counter and striking up a conversation with the barmaid as always. Evan was a good acquaintance of both Cloud and Tifa, the two assisting he and his girlfriend Kyrie in their search for fuel and directions to Nibelheim. The conversation turned to the suspicious death, Tifa wondering if Evan had any information. The victim was one of her patrons, why wouldn't she be curious? "So, did you hear anything about Eli Frentwheel's case, Evan?"

He nodded after finishing his meal and sipping his tea. One of Evan's hands propped up his head, his angular chin resting on his palm. "They could identify him because he still had his wallet on him, so it wasn't a robbery gone wrong. They don't have any leads, and they might never. It's an older murder, probably about a month old."

 _'That's about the last time I saw him.'_ Tifa raised a brow as she dried a glass. "It was confirmed to have been a murder?"

Evan looked about with his ice blue eyes before looking at Tifa again. "Yeah. The body isn't in good shape but the examiner noticed clean cuts that went straight into the bones." He paused, his lips pursed.

"Wait. The bones were cut into?"

He nodded, then tapped the counter with his fingers as Tifa waited for him to continue. "Yeah. Severed the ribs from the spine on one side, so we know he was running away from whoever it was. The left hand was partially amputated, too. There's other injuries, ones that look like slashes or stabs but they're difficult to identify because of the state of the body."

She raised her brows in surprise. "I hope it's not going to become a habit in Edge to find such things." Edge had its bad parts, but murder wasn't particularly commonplace.

"I doubt it, but with the high profile murders recently...I don't think this one is connected. It's too different, but then again it's too early to say for sure." The detective shrugged, not having much more to say. They had already discussed the two murders that had occurred last month, both terribly grisly and involving important members of the local scientific community.

Tifa sighed, putting the dry glass down. "That's all we would need, a serial killer on the loose in Edge."

"I know, right? I worry about Vits and Kyrie enough as it is." He finished his tea and laid some bills on the counter. "I gotta go. Take care, Tifa."

The day continued on, the children coming in for a late lunch before barging out of the front door again. Tifa watched them leave, a little worry panging at her heart. What if there was a serial killer on the loose? Would she and Cloud be able to protect them? She knew neither of them could be there for them all the time, and they couldn't keep them cooped up in the house, either.

As always, they would weather it.

At least, she hoped so. The thought of someone slicing into another's back, maybe even stabbing them through, was something she would rather not think of. It was eerily similar to the way Aerith had died. She was killed right in front of him by a fatal sword strike from behind, and Tifa was afraid of what would happen if Cloud heard about it. Such an image might trigger his PTSD again, and he had been so happy lately. The nightmares hadn't haunted him, he hadn't gazed through her with the thousand yard stare, he didn't hide himself in the corner of his office, brooding over things he never spoke about with a bottle of Corel wine in his hand and scruff along his jaw. Tifa wanted Cloud to be happy as long as he could hold on, and she would help him keep that grip on the fleeting emotion. He earned it, after all.

The children finally came home for good before the dinner rush, Marlene helping with drinks and Denzel busing tables. Tifa had a small evening menu that she could keep to, easily making an order of wings or fries or burgers to keep her patrons content. Sometimes one of the neighborhood children would come over and buy a glass of juice, a habit kept since the opening of the bar. Children had as many woes as adults in this age, and a cup of juice was a good way to remember that they were kids that enjoyed simple little things. Marlene always tested out any new juices they might sell, and occasionally Denzel would give his opinion on them too.

She looked at the clock, it was nearing closing time. Customers began to slowly leave, finishing their drinks and giving friendly, tipsy waves at the three as they made their way out the door. The children helped clean up the bar and Tifa divided up the evening tips between them, part as an allowance with most of it going towards their personal savings for when they were older. She and Cloud had decided it was best that the children had something saved up for the future; Tifa especially took to the idea in case something terrible happened. When she had woken up in a clinic in the slums of Midgar with a new scar marring her chest, she had nothing but her martial arts training and painful memories.

So, during the summer when the children helped out in the bar they would get a share of the tips.

Tifa sighed and tossed a casserole in the oven before ushering the children upstairs to clean up after their help in the bar. She took the lock box from under her bed and stowed away the gil for their savings, then hiding it back away behind a few little boxes filled with old knickknacks. Eventually she would transfer it to the bank after the week was over, she thought. Tifa left the master bedroom after opening another window and walked past the bathroom, the sound of the shower's spray reaching her ears. She glanced towards Marlene's room, the door creaked open; Denzel was probably relaxing in his room before it was his turn.

She walked into Cloud's office, looking over the small mess of receipts and orders that littered the floor as they did on most days. Tifa collected them up and placed them on the desk before gazing at the pictures he had sitting next to the landline for his service. During the day she would take a call here or there, or the children would if they were inside. If they couldn't take care of it Cloud had it set up where it would redirect to his cellphone without giving away his private number.

Two pictures; one of his family and one of their family of friends. She caught Cloud on more than one occasion staring fondly at either one, sometimes on his good days and sometimes on the bad ones. The family picture had been updated recently. They were outside Seventh Heaven and Cloud was closer to her and the children, everyone smiling. His was shy and a little faint, but he had that cocky glint in his eyes from sassing Yuffie before she took the picture. Denzel looked more confident, the Geostigma sore that marred his head gone.

Eventually the children were all cleaned up and the food ready, but no sound in the distance of Cloud's motorcycle. Tifa sighed as she took the pan out of the oven and let the casserole cool down. It was still plenty warm, the fans doing all they could to keep the bar and house just comfortable enough. "I hope this summer isn't like last year's."

"Me too. It was too hot to do anything!" Denzel said from his seat.

Marlene nodded in agreement. "I felt so gross from all the sweat."

Tifa laughed. "I did, too."

She waited a bit longer, delaying dinner for as long as she could. Finally she shrugged and began dividing up the casserole between their plates, serving the children before slowly walking to her seat and putting her platter of food on the table when she heard a quickly approaching rumble. She turned her head and walked over towards the garage door, arms crossed and a brow raised.

Cloud opened the door after a minute and blushed at the look Tifa gave him. She tsked and tapped her foot on the floor. "You're late." she said playfully.

He pulled out a few flowers from behind his back. "Sorry, Teef. Had another delivery I couldn't say no to."

Tifa's face brightened, and she hugged Cloud tightly before she took the flowers. "Oh, Cloud! This was sweet of you."

Cloud hugged her back before she parted to quickly find a vase from under the counter to place them in. They were red carnations, different than the usual lilies and wildflowers he favored. Cloud walked over to his chair and sat, a soft smile on his lips. She studied him; this time he wasn't covered in monster blood, fortunately. "How was your day?" she asked as she fixed up his plate.

He took his gloves off before picking up his fork. "It was alright. A little more boring than usual, actually." He shrugged lightly before digging into his food. They conversed quietly about their day, how Denzel and his friends found some gil in an alley way or how Marlene played jump rope with two of the neighborhood kids. Tifa kept quiet about her day, wanting to talk about Eli with Cloud alone.

The evening went on as usual, the children helping Cloud with his receipts and travel routes after he took a shower. He joined Tifa in their bedroom after they put the children to bed, cuddling up next to her as a summer breeze blew through the window. "So how was your day, Teef? You never talked about it during dinner."

Tifa settled under the thin sheet covering them, laying a hand over Cloud's wrist. "Same as it always is." Her brows creased. "I found out one of my regulars was murdered."

"Oh?"

She looked into his face, his glowing eyes waiting for more information. "I suppose you didn't remember him. His name was Eli Frentwheel, he had a tab at the bar."

Something seemed to register in Cloud's eyes before he narrowed them and looked away towards the far wall. "Who told you?"

"It was in the newspaper this morning. The name looked familiar, so I checked my tabs." She let out a little hum, tapping her fingers on hip. "I wonder who could've had it in for him?" Carving him up and dumping him in a sewer. Ghoulish. Tifa didn't mention how Eli died, not wanting him to begin thinking of one of his family members ending up just like this man.

"Dunno. Maybe he had a shadier side to him." Cloud remarked lowly. He looked over at her again. "Did he owe a lot?"

Tifa shook her head. "Just a hundred fifty gil. Not that much."

"I see."

"I guess it's just...it hit kinda close to home." Tifa moved closer to him despite the heat.

"Are you worried?"

She frowned and raised a brow. "Aren't you?"

Cloud shrugged. "It wasn't anybody close to us, and it wasn't- it wasn't close to the bar, right?"

"Well, no, but still-"

"Maybe he upset the wrong people. You didn't know him that well, right?" His eyes were searching hers.

Tifa rolled her eyes. Of course he wouldn't care that someone that was in her bar that he didn't like was killed. "Cloud, someone _died_. Someone that came to my bar and drank and ate and talked. I was getting to know him a little bit, like I do _all_ of my regulars."

Cloud sighed and turned onto his back to look at the ceiling. "I didn't mean it like that, Teef. I meant that it was probably _just_ another murder. Not that he wasn't someone with a life and a backstory, but that I'm not worried one of us are next. That's all."

"Hm. What would it take to get you worried?" she challenged him gently.

He shrugged. "Probably if something like that happened much closer to the bar." Cloud turned his head and gave Tifa a kiss on her cheek. "If that happens, I'll watch the bar until they're caught." His finger tickled at her thigh, making little circles on the skin.

Tifa shifted to her side to face him, letting out a little giggle as he continued to caress her skin. He shifted onto his side as well and danced his calloused fingers along the side of her torso, making her sigh happily. Coming in for another kiss, Tifa felt reassured that whatever was happening in Edge, her family was safe.


	2. The Flower Lady

"Hm?"

It had been nearly a week since Tifa found out about Eli's fate. Now she was looking at the newspaper before her bar would open, and there was an article about a murder in Kalm, a woman's body found in her flower shop the day before last. Tifa's eyes narrowed as she studied the black and white photo, then widened as she recognized the face and hair style of the victim.

This was the woman Cloud had been staring at when they went for their family outing.

 _'I guess it doesn't matter if he remembered her or not anymore,'_ Tifa thought. A flower shop? She glanced at the vase a few feet from her. Cloud had brought home more flowers a couple of days ago. They were the same rosy red carnations he had brought home the first time. Did he get them from this woman's flower shop? If so, she supposed this would be the last bouquet of carnations she would get for a long time.

Still, her curiosity was piqued. This was the second person she recognized, though she didn't know this woman at all. Tifa waited for Evan to show up for lunch as he always did, then showed him the paper with the flower shop murder. "Do you have any information on this?"

Evan raised his brows and tipped his felt black hat back a little, then took the newspaper as Tifa worked on his order. "Yeah, a detective in Kalm gave me some information on it. They think it might be connected to the other two murders and maybe, a fourth."

Tifa looked back at him, frowning. "There was another?"

"Maybe." He chuckled and put the paper down and to the side. "You seem pretty interested in these cases."

"Why wouldn't I be? There's a killer on the loose and I have kids." She turned back to the pan. _'And Cloud might put his business on hiatus to keep them safe.'_

Evan chuckled again and nodded. "Right." He looked about, making sure no one was too close, then leaned further onto the counter. "What connects them is the torture that leads to their deaths, and death by torture is pretty rare. One was cut open on his kitchen table, another one was waterboarded to death, as I told you before." Tifa turned to him with his food, placed the plate in front of him and leaned on the counter a little, listening intently. "This woman, Rose Millary..." he trailed off, eyes looking away.

Tifa tilted her head. "What happened to her?" she whispered.

Evan looked back. "She was strapped to the back wall of the storage room in her shop, cut up a little bit, and injected with one of the pesticides she had stored up. The strange thing is, no one heard any screams coming from the shop, and her mouth wasn't gagged."

Tifa bit her lip. Someone killed an innocent woman who sold flowers, just like that. Not a gang member killing a rival gang member, not a drug deal gone bad. Just a woman trying to sell some flowers.

"The other one hasn't been leaked to the press yet, but the body found was burnt beyond recognition. They were also restrained. Whoever it was, they had fractured and _pulverized_ bones from what I've been told." he remarked.

She frowned back. "Where did that happen?"

"Way outside Junon, in an abandoned shack in the sticks. Nearest town was five miles away, but no one from there is missing." Evan sighed. "We're still not sure if the Kalm murder and this one are connected, but there's a good possibility." He started to eat his lunch.

"Which would mean the killer is mobile."

Evan nodded as he chewed a bite of food. "Which means they either have a business, are well off enough to have a private vehicle, or they work for the WRO or Shinra." He chuckled. "It narrows the pool of possible suspects down a little, actually."

Indeed it did, Tifa thought. Most people didn't have private vehicles because of the cost of fuel, and many were still converted and modified from older models that used mako. Very few people ever left the cities and towns, monsters still being a serious impediment to travel. Kalm to Edge was generally safe for even foot travel, but Edge to Junon and the surrounding area could be dangerous without some skill at fighting.

"Is there any other pattern?" Tifa asked. "It seems like whoever is doing this is starting to go out of their way. If it's the same person, that is."

"I'm sure there is, but we haven't found it yet. It's not like we have the same tools available to law enforcement when Shinra was at its peak." he sighed, then took a sip of his drink. "I'll probably get more information about these two in a couple of days."

Tifa nodded and let Evan finish his meal in peace. The killer could be anywhere if they have a vehicle, could go anywhere. They were strong enough to pulverize bones and sick enough to slowly torture someone to death. Were they ex-Soldier? Maybe the mako and Jenova cells finally pickled their brain. That's what many thought about ex-Soldiers, since there were so few left.

No, maybe they were always sick. Cloud had gone through worse or so he had implied, and went through mako poisoning twice. His mind wasn't strong enough for the standard process of Soldier creation at all. But not once had he snapped at any of them violently nor showed any inclinations towards some psychopathy developed from long-term exposure to J-Cells or mako.

She kept her opinion to herself for now, until she heard more. Ex-Soldiers were extremely rare after Meteorfall and the Geostigma plague, many being killed by AVALANCHE during their war with Shinra. Cloud was often mistaken for one, with his bright eyes and extraordinary strength. Although he'd never been in Soldier, his backstory was far darker than the curious could fathom. Right now, the last thing she needed was suspicious detectives bothering her delivery boy.

There was a lull in the mid-afternoon, and after feeding Marlene and Denzel lunch she went upstairs to pick up the hamper from the bathroom and take it downstairs to the garage where the dryer and washer awaited. Tifa tossed the clothing into the washer but paused as a faint smell hit her nose. It was a heavy chemical smell, drifting off one of the articles of clothing.

Instinctively she grabbed Cloud's shirt and sniffed. It was coming from it. She paused, standing there in a bit of a daze. It smelled like the same stuff her mother used in the flower garden before she died, a pesticide. Cloud's shirt smelled like pesticide.

 _'The flower girl was injected with pesticides...'_ Tifa forced a laugh at the silly thought.

Still, she had a very slight feeling of unease that she drummed up to a mild paranoia. Cloud didn't do things like that. After turning on the washer, she went back upstairs to put the hamper in the bathroom. Tifa was about to go down the stairs when she stopped and looked at the door to Cloud's office. After a moment she opened the door and entered, his desk covered and surrounded by receipts as always.

He was always so messy, she thought with a smile.

Tifa figured she had a few minutes to spare before the first people would trickle in for after work drinks, and started to clean up the papers. Her eyes darted this way and that way, looking for receipts from Kalm specifically. A few popped up here and there, of mundane things such as letters or care packages. Tifa's hand fell on another paper, upside down on the floor. She up-righted it and cocked her head as she read the delivery information.

 **To: Rose Millary**

 **Order: Insecticide**

 **From: Rui Coltsfeld**

"Rui Coltsfeld?" So Cloud had been handling the chemicals for an order. She relaxed, placing the slip on the desk with the rest she had collected. Tifa looked at the other receipts that were already stacked on the desk, another delivery from Rui to a different person the week before. Rui must be a recurring customer of his, Tifa thought. She left for the bar again, laughing in her head about those wayward thoughts.

As the bar again began to pick up in business she wondered what Cloud would have to say about the two new deaths in the surrounding area when he got home tonight.

* * *

"Hey, Denzel."

Denzel waved at his friend, joining him in an alleyway near the Plaza. Despite Tifa's worry about some crazy murderer, he still tended to wander farther than she asked of he and Marlene. In Denzel's mind she was worrying too much over very little; it wasn't as if murders wouldn't happen in a big city, after all. "Hey, Vits. What's up?"

Vits shrugged before moving some of his brown hair out of his face. It was hot and both of them were sweating despite the shorts and sleeveless shirts they wore. "Evan said that he's probably gonna be on a big case, and me and Kyrie should be careful when we're out in the city."

"Yeah. Tifa told us to stay close to home because of some murders, but I don't think it's that big of a deal." Denzel had a half smile on his face. If Cloud wasn't that worried he certainly wasn't going to be.

"Evan isn't totally freaking out, but I tried looking at the folder for the cases. He locked them up! I can't even see what has him worried." Vits kicked at a lone pebble on the asphalt. "I bet they're pretty gross."

Denzel hummed in agreement. Neither of them were given details about the murders, just that they had Evan and Tifa a little on edge. It only made him more curious. "Wonder if we'll ever see anything."

Vits' light brown eyes brightened from curiosity. "Maybe, but nothin' happens around this part of the city."

"Maybe, or maybe we have to go looking around for it." Denzel offered. His curiosity was making him throw caution to the wind. "If we checked out the slums, or maybe the warehouses a few blocks from our neighborhood, we could find clues or something."

Denzel's friend tapped his foot a few times, hand on his chin. It was tempting to have a reason to roam around and explore. "I dunno. What if like, the murderer is there, and he kills us because we're witnesses?" Vits had his hands on his hips. He was tempted but it was still dangerous.

Denzel flashed a cheeky smile. "My Aunt Yuffie taught me and Marlene how to sneak, and other ninja stuff!"

"Your aunt is a ninja?" Vits asked, skepticism dripping from his voice.

His friend nodded. "She's from Wutai, and an old friend of Cloud's. She always gives us candy from there and tries to teach us ninja skills. Aunt Yuffie said it's important to learn how to sneak in the shadows, especially in a big city like this!"

"I dunno if I believe that..."

Denzel scoffed. "C'mon, I'll show you what she taught us, Vits. Last time she visited she was teachin' me how to pick locks, but don't tell anyone, okay?"

Vits raised a brow and rubbed his chin. "Will you teach me how to pick locks?"

"Sure, but we should work on sneaking first. Aunt Yuffie says that's the most important skill for ninjas, because you don't wanna get caught in the first place." Denzel said sagely.

"Well, okay. Let's practice sneaking, then."

Denzel nodded, then moved his feet apart. "You gotta have your feet like this, so your weight's distributed properly." He moved a few steps, barely making a sound. "When you take a step, land on the ball of your foot first, not your toes." A few more steps were taken so Vits could see how his friend moved his feet into place. "Now you try it."

Vits spread his feet out, then Denzel moved them a little before nodding in approval. The first few steps were clumsy, but every successful footfall that he took had him mentally cheering. He practiced for a while, getting used to the gait. He turned to Denzel. "How about sneaking past narrow areas?"

Denzel hummed, a finger to his lower lip. He looked about and then pointed at a dumpster nestled near the wall of an apartment building. "Let's practice there." They walked up to it and he turned to Vits. "Watch my feet."

Vits did so, studying the one foot after the other technique his friend had been taught. Denzel still landed on the balls of his feet with deliberate movements, and Vits barely picked up the sound of crunching gravel and dust.

Denzel turned to him as he exited the narrow passage way on the other side. "Your turn."

Wobbling a little here and there he slowly got the hang of it, though still not nearly as good as Denzel. Vits went back and forth, Denzel giving him more pointers and examples. "You're doing great, Vits!"

Vits grinned. He still wasn't totally sold that Denzel's 'aunt' was a ninja, but his friend was totally onto something with his sneaking skills. "D'you ever use this at home?"

Denzel bit his lip and turned his head, his wavy hair moving into his eyes. He shoved it out of the way. "Sometimes..." He looked back. "I can almost sneak up on Cloud. Like, I can get up pretty close when he's working on Fenrir or in the office. He catches on after I get too close, though."

"Oh. Is his hearing really good or something?"

"Mm. I think he was in Soldier. He said he wasn't, but only Soldiers have eyes like him." Denzel gave a shrug. Maybe Cloud was shy about it.

Vits nodded sagely. "Evan says most ex-Soldiers like to keep their pasts in the past."

"How come?"

"People think they might go crazy or something. Evan says there's no evidence of that, but that doesn't stop people from thinkin' that. Just like they thought we were contagious when we had Geostigma." Vits let out a sigh.

Denzel tightened his jaw. He remembered. People stopped coming to Seventh Heaven because he was there, an infected child that oozed black pus and stayed bedridden with fever on bad days. Maybe Cloud was in Soldier but just didn't want to admit to it because people would think he would go crazy one day. "Yeah," came the flat reply. He took a deep breath and nodded. "Let's keep practicing, you still have a long way to go, Vits."

Vits scoffed. "I'll be better than you soon."

"Doubt it." Denzel said with a grin.

They two continued on with their practice, going to one alley or another to challenge their footwork. After several hot, sweaty hours the two looked up at the slowly darkening sky. It was getting late, and they would have to go home before they were scolded.

That was great," Vits said. "Can we do this tomorrow, too?"

Denzel nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! But somewhere different. We have to get good if we wanna solve anything."

Vits raised a brow. "Like where?"

"Warehouses might be fun."

Vits nodded, accepting the new place they would train. They left the alleys and headed towards their neighborhood, promising not to say a word to their guardians about their ambitious plans.

* * *

After sending the children to bed Cloud and Tifa spent some time in the bar, lounging at the counter with some ice pops. Tifa collected her thoughts as she sucked on the cold treat, her eyes moving to Cloud when she noticed his stare. She hesitated, but she knew she had to get this off of her chest.

"That woman you noticed at the restaurant was killed," she started.

His eyes widened and he looked away. "It was in the newspaper this morning, I saw."

Tifa nodded. "Who would do such a thing, murdering a flower girl like that..." She noticed Cloud stiffen, obviously very uncomfortable. Tifa quickly put a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it with her thumb. "Sorry. I guess I shouldn't have said that." They both knew what kind of person butchered flower girls.

Cloud moved his head ever so slightly, his eye barely visible. "It's fine," he mumbled.

She sighed and looked at the vase of flowers, still rubbing Cloud's shoulder. "Is she...Is she who you bought those flowers from?"

He nodded once. "Yeah. If I had a delivery in Kalm I'd make a visit. I guess it was a growing habit."

"Hm." Tifa licked her popsicle. "What was she like?"

Cloud gave a little shrug, Tifa's hand slowly leaving his shoulders. He still felt tense, but it was slowly leaving his muscles. "I didn't talk to her much. She was...attentive. Outgoing."

She figured he didn't talk much to his customers. He was probably thinking about being one of the last people to see her alive..."Cloud, she died the same day you brought me some flowers. Did you see anything out of place?"

He looked back at her, his face neutral but his eyes flickering up and down the length of her body. Cloud looked towards the counter. "I had a delivery for her that night. I bought some flowers after I was done with my business with her." He looked Tifa in the eye. "But I didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

Tifa hummed, then sucked again on the fruity ice of her popsicle. "These murders are really starting to make me worry."

He was quiet for a few moments, nursing his slowly melting ice pop. "How many have there been?"

Tifa counted with her fingers. "Not including Eli, three. Maybe four."

Cloud studied her as she did the same to him. "Eli isn't included?"

She shook her head. "Well..." Tifa's voice trailed off; she didn't know if it would be wise to say anything about the torture. She decided not to mention how, just that they had been. "Eli wasn't...tortured."

He frowned. "Wasn't tortured? Who said that?"

"One of my regulars is a detective. Remember Evan? He comes in for lunch almost every day." She began sucking on her dessert again, before it melted over her fingers. _'From what Evan said, it seemed more like a one-sided fight than deliberate torture.'_

Narrowed eyes were added to his frown, and they flickered down to the ground. Tifa knew he was thinking something over in his head. Cloud looked back up, eyes and face curious. "Yeah, I remember Evan...Is that all the information they have?"

Tifa huffed through her nose before swallowing some slush. "They think the suspect has an automobile. They don't know about any possible motivations or patterns beyond...torturing...victims to death..."

"I see."

"Well, Evan said he might have more information on the newest two murders in a couple of days." She shrugged. Tifa wasn't sure where the investigation would lead without a suspect.

"Keep me posted." Cloud tapped his fingers on the counter, sucking on the popsicle stick. "You seem pretty interested in all of this, Teef," he said around the flat piece of wood in his mouth. "Didn't know you were a gumshoe." He smirked a little, the popsicle stick making it look goofy to Tifa.

She giggled and shrugged again. "Can you blame me? Someone is out there doing horrible things to people. The thought that one of us could be spirited away by a psychopath and tortured for hours before finally being killed comes up from time to time."

He winced, then looked down, chewing the stick. "I guess that's a possibility, isn't it?" Cloud looked up and gave her a searching look after taking the stick out of his mouth. "Would it make you feel better if I take fewer jobs outside of Edge for now? In case anything happens."

Her eyes brightened at the prospect. "I'd like that a lot, Cloud."

Cloud smiled, then stood up and went past the counter to toss away his gnawed stick. "Whatever keeps you guys safe."

Tifa followed him after throwing away the remains of her dessert. "You're taking all of this pretty well."

"With Evan and you on the case, I can rest easy," he joked. Tifa softly hit the back of his shoulder before Cloud snatched her by the waist in the hallway, chuckling as they walked towards the bedroom to get ready for bed.

* * *

 **Thanks again to kelleyj17 for betaing and fleshing out!**


	3. Pictures

**Thanks again to kelleyj17 for her help beta-ing and making sure the pacing is good! Sometimes I really miss those typos.**

This chapter has graphic depictions of gore and rot in it, so be prepared. Or something.

* * *

Cloud had kept to his word, only taking a few packages into Kalm and a very important one to Junon over the last two days. Tifa understood why he would take the job; the customer was offering a good chunk of gil for it. He promised he would be as quick about it as he could be, and he'd be back in Edge and near his family while the law tried to find the murderer.

She felt much better knowing Cloud was somewhere in the city most of the day instead of out on the highways, possibly hours from Edge if there was an emergency. Minutes mattered if anything happened to the kids, and with Fenrir Cloud would be able to scout the city if they ever got a description of whoever was committing these horrible acts.

Cloud had left early that morning to see the Junon package off, and Tifa was left alone after making sure Denzel and Marlene understood they needed to stay close to the bar. Marlene had nodded solemnly while Denzel looked rather disinterested. Tifa firmly repeated that until this was resolved he would have to make do with the neighborhood and Plaza.

She had pondered if getting Cloud to talk to him about it would work better. For one reason or another he always listened to Cloud. Maybe it was because he rescued him from the slums, or because Cloud was the father figure of the house. Maybe Denzel bonded better with males. Tifa couldn't fault him in that, though sometimes she wished he'd open up more to her. At least Marlene listened, Tifa thought. She didn't have to worry about her wandering too far.

After doing a few last minute chores it was half an hour before the bar would open, and Tifa was feeling antsy. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if Cloud could have been in contact with the flower girl killer. He was a courier, after all; maybe he sent the pesticide to that woman and it was used in the murder, Cloud completely oblivious to its insidious use. Would he be considered a suspect, just because of that? Would they understand why Cloud would never kill someone in that line of work? After hesitating and thinking it over again, she left for Evan's detective agency.

It was right down the road from Seventh Heaven, having relocated from an unknown neighborhood in Edge almost a year ago. She knocked on the door before opening up, Evan looking up from his paper riddled desk. His hat was resting above his brown leather coat on the standing coat hanger in the far corner of the low-lit, off-white painted room. Tifa studied his face; she hadn't seen him without his hat before, his dirty blond hair falling into his face a little. So familiar...

"Hi, Evan. Mind if I bother you for a little bit?"

He chuckled. "Couldn't wait?"

She shook her head with a small smile, walking towards his wooden desk and sitting in the chair in front of him. Her eyes wandered about the papers splayed about, a mess much like Cloud's desk. There was a clean light brown folder next to Evan, his hand peeling it back and pulling out the contents. There were documents and photos, photos she merely glimpsed. Tifa looked back at Evan. "I'd like to see the pictures."

His blue eyes bored into her, their gaze so terribly familiar when he held such a serious face. "Tifa, this stuff can't leave the office. It's also not for the squeamish, so if you'd rather not look-"

"I'll be fine, Evan," she insisted. Tifa had seen plenty of horrible things. What could top watching Hojo violently stretch and tear apart into a monstrosity in front of her eyes? The Nibelheim Incident? The Black Cloaks?

Evan nodded once, slowly, then turned his eyes down to the pictures. He put them in little stacks, five of them. His finger pointed at each stack. "Eli, Harran, Galenn, Millary, and the unknown man."

Tifa blinked and swallowed heavily, looking over the pictures. Regardless of her desensitization, she had known Eli in person. She took a deep breath before picking up Eli's pictures and flipping through them.

The body was in horrible shape, just like Evan had said. The remains on the examination table were filthy, Eli's black leather jacket coated in sewer grime much like his putrefying body. Blackened hands, one whole sans the wrinkled skin glove and the other sporting a clean split through the palm; the top half holding on with the intact fifth metacarpal bone and whatever flesh still clung to it.

The back of the jacket sported a huge black gash, some greasy bone being pointed to by an examiner's finger. Tifa frowned when she saw the chest gash, the flesh cut open to show soft organs that bloated and partially plugged the lower part of the cut. A stab wound was pointed to in another picture, through his shoulder. It was barely visible through the jacket.

The head showed some trauma as pointed out by the examiner, the cheekbone split and deformed and the front teeth missing. She couldn't make out if the eyes were there or not, and didn't care to know. Most of his scalp was missing and Tifa wouldn't have known it was Eli unless she had been told.

"Two clean cuts, a stab wound, a near amputation of the hand through the middle and blunt force trauma to the head," Evan drawled out. "We think he was fighting the suspect before trying to escape, then fighting again before the final blow into his chest."

"Mm." She studied the pictures over and over again. These weren't done with a knife. A sword or a spear, or an exotic Wutaian blade. There was a lot of force put into every slice and stab, too.

Evan took the photos after Tifa was done, then showed her Harran's. Unlike Eli, this body was fresh. His hands and feet had been nailed to a wooden kitchen table, his mouth jammed open with blood soaked fabric that looked like a very stuffed sock. There was blood everywhere and in every photo, smeared about the crime scene.

Not particularly jarring considering the things she had seen.

Evan pointed at the photo of the torso Tifa flipped to. "He was cut into with a scalpel found next to the corpse. The suspect did a Y-incision to open up the chest and abdominal walls before rummaging through the organs."

Indeed, it looked like a mad scientist's dissection to Tifa; there was a long cut down to the groin and smaller incisions made to fold back the abdominal muscles. They had been torn and stretched to keep them out of the way. Harran's intestines were partially placed outside the body cavity, and his appendix was cut out and laid on the other side of the body. His stomach and liver were limply sagging towards the bottom of the cavity, swimming in blood with his kidneys. "This seems a bit much to go through, unless whoever it was minimized blood loss somehow."

Evan shrugged. "Potions, a cure materia..." He let out a huff. "If it was a grown cure materia, maybe a regen spell was used. The mortician said there was some evidence of the flesh knitting itself together again, so whoever did this wanted Harran to live long enough to feel every bit of pain they had to offer."

The next picture showcased the chest. The rib cage had been hacked away and pulled off, the heart missing. The next two photos were of a dented, blood splattered cleaver and the missing heart, laying in a bloody pool on the floor by the wall.

"Someone went through all of this trouble..."

He nodded. "Yep." Evan took the photos when she was finished with them and handed her the next pile. "Galenn."

Galenn was more like Eli. Decayed and bloated, the pale waxy skin blotched with ugly green, purple and black. These were photos of the crime scene, uneven light bathing the corpse. Tifa only knew Galenn was female because Eli had told her so; it was impossible to tell by the state of the body. She was in scrubs that clung to her body, and they were soaked with dark bodily fluids. The face was barely recognizable as a face, the mouth gaping open to reveal a swollen black tongue and maggots while a dark fluid dribbled forth. The hair had detached cleanly from the scalp, laying tangled and clinging to the fabric under the corpse's head.

The photos were few and focused on the upper half of her body, which was hanging at a low angle. Her feet and arms had been restrained and the bloating had allowed the material to cut into the thin, fragile skin. The area around the murder scene was filthy, an abandoned clinic deep in the ruins of the Midgar Slums where barely anyone would tread. Rotted papers, supplies and dead scavenger insects littered what bit of floor was in the pictures.

"She was water boarded to death, per the autopsy. There was no trauma indicating the use of blunt force, and no sharp instruments used. Just water." Evan said as Tifa gave him the pictures. He placed them on the desk and retrieved the next set. "Millary."

Millary had been tied to two metal hangers secured on a wall. They didn't look particularly strong, and one was partially ripped out and bent. Her legs were tucked under her, knees holding her limp body up. She wore a purple dress and while Tifa saw the cuts that marred her shoulders, arms and cheek, there had been not one wound to her torso.

The blood turned parts of her dress an ugly mauve, those cuts had been deep. Tifa squinted her eyes. One cut had split her collarbone on the left side. "Are you sure Eli's case isn't related to any of this?"

Evan looked at the picture as Tifa pointed at the close up of the cuts. He shrugged. "I've wondered myself, lately."

Tifa frowned at how wide the victim's legs were spread as she again looked at the first picture. There was a cut above one knee, the fabric split and stained. "She wasn't..." Tifa pointed towards the legs.

"Ah, no. Battered but not violated...like that."

She nodded and continued studying the pictures, flipping to the next one. Millary's face showed light bruising and small blisters, her green eyes staring into nothing and her jaw hanging open limply. There was a gash on her cheek, as if a blade caressed it. Another photo showed a close up of the injection site on the arm, discolored and the skin towards the shoulder raw and largely a blister. Another photo, this one showing the needle. It was a rather large syringe, emptied of its contents.

The next picture was of the rectangular, black plastic container with the name of a popular brand of pesticide written in green and red. She couldn't help but wonder if this was the same pesticide Cloud delivered to Millary before she died. Would they question him? He said he saw nothing out of the ordinary before he left, and it was just a delivery after all.

Evan switched out the photos when she was done. "Last ones, of the unknown man. We might know who he is, though."

Tifa glanced at the picture before returning her eyes to Evan's gaze. "Oh?"

"There's been a missing person in Junon whose car was found far outside of the city the day before. If they're the same person, that would be the third person murdered in the medical or scientific field." Evan stated.

"What was their name?"

"Eustice Valant."

Tifa hummed. She swore that name sounded familiar. Her eyes again went to the picture she held, of a charred body that was barely recognizable. It was flat in the ash, a remnant of a plank here and there. The wrists were cuffed and what was left of the torso was caved in. The jaw was barely existent, melded to the neck from the heat.

The next picture detailed the bottom portion, and much like the other picture there were restraints on the ankles. The tibia of one leg was snapped almost into a V shape while the sides of the hips were not symmetrical at all. Evan pointed at a hip. "Mortician said it was totally crushed. They think it was with the sledgehammer they found at the scene."

"Was that the murder weapon?" Tifa asked.

Evan nodded. "The blow to the chest was probably what did him in. The fire was just to burn away whatever the suspect could."

Tifa handed the pictures to him and sat quietly for a few minutes. The suspect was mobile, powerful and possibly had access to materia or just good potions. But why? "I guess there's still no possible motivation, is there?"

"No, but...and this is kind of silly considering how many people have worked for them in the past, but all of them, including Eli, were former Shinra employees. So, maybe it's someone with a vendetta against the Shinra." Evan scratched behind his ear nervously. "That might cut the Shinra and the Turks out of the suspect pool, because none of the victims had any sort of court case or known beef with them."

"But it might mean those who worked for Shinra should watch their backs." Tifa added.

"Yeah. Who knows, maybe it's a former member of that terrorist group, AVALANCHE." Evan didn't catch the look he was being given by Tifa. "Then again it could just be a disgruntled ex-Shinra employee, possibly sending a message to Rufus Shinra."

"Hm. Well, I..." Tifa looked at her watch, it was five minutes before she had to open. "Come by for lunch. There's something I need to look at."

"Oh?"

Tifa nodded as she stood from the chair. "Yeah. Cloud runs a delivery business, remember? Let me check his records." She smiled. "Thanks for letting me take a look at those pictures, Evan."

He nodded before standing up and reaching for his hat. "I'll be over in a few minutes."

"The door will be unlocked." She left the detective agency and headed back to the bar, a nervous feeling growing in her gut. Rui Coltsfeld...She looked up at the sky, greyer clouds floating up above and the distant din of thunder threatening a summer storm in the next several hours.

Tifa left the door unlocked as promised before quickly making her way up the stairs and into Cloud's office. More little slips littered the floor, but not as many as there had been in recent days; most were still on the desk.

She looked through the container that held his older receipts before they were thrown out, flipping through until she found the two she was looking for. They were both from Rui, and she bit her lip when she noticed the name on the second slip. Eustice Valant. It was for a letter. Was Rui using Cloud to ship things to victims?

Tifa went downstairs with the slips and waited for Evan to enter the bar. A few minutes later and he was the first one in, raising a brow at the look of concern on her face. As he sat down at his usual seat by the counter, she placed the receipts in front of him. "I think a suspect is using Cloud's delivery service."

Evan frowned and examined the two small slips. "Rui Coltsfeld...Well, that first name is used either as a surname in the Kalm and Midgar regions, or as a first name in the Costa region. So, it might be a recent transplant from there."

"Hm. I'll have to ask Cloud if he knows anything about him, but he might not remember him all that well. Rui doesn't seem to be a regular, yet." Tifa turned around to take a pan off the wall and begin Evan's usual lunch.

Evan looked over the slips again. "A pesticide shipment and a letter. Maybe you've given us a lead here."

Tifa glanced back. "I'll have to see if there's any other papers for Harran and Galenn, but that was last month. The receipts would be gone, but he keeps a ledger on past customers."

"He doesn't keep the receipts?"

She shook her head before returning her eyes to the pan. "Are you kidding? His office would be filled with those things!"

After she had finished making Evan his lunch Tifa let him enjoy it in peace as she went to work greeting and serving other customers. After she had a few moments to herself again she talked to the detective again. "So, how's Vits?"

Evan shrugged as he held his tea cup. "Same as always. I think he's been hanging out with your boy lately." He sipped his tea. "I hope he's staying near the neighborhood. I just have this nagging feeling he's not listening to me."

Tifa chuckled, familiar with that feeling. "I feel that way sometimes. Denzel seems as concerned as Cloud, and he's not too worried."

"No?"

She shrugged as she filled a glass with Corel wine. "I don't think so, or he's just playing cool. He said he'd keep most of his deliveries in Edge until everything calmed down, so I think the latter."

Evan nodded. He was a stiff upper lip fellow himself, not wanting to show too much emotion in front of others. Especially not Kyrie. It was just the way he was, and he refused to cry in front of her as he held his mother's body in that frozen cave during their adventure to find her. "You know us guys have to play tough, Tifa."

Tifa snorted, a smile dancing on her lips. "Could have fooled me."

Eventually he left again with the slips after he promised to let her pester Cloud, agreeing that Tifa would have more success than himself at getting the courier to speak. Tifa listened as the sound of thunder came closer, and soon rain began to pitter-patter against the bar. She sighed, wondering if Denzel was caught in the downpour. He would be completely soaked by the time he came back to the bar.

She wasn't worried about Marlene, having had plans to visit the next door neighbor's child and play board games. Denzel was probably out and about on the streets, his sneakers slowly becoming more waterlogged by the second. Tifa then thought of Cloud; she would have to deal with the both of them being drenched with rainwater. Cloud did deliveries rain or shine, and when it rained he came home pooling water by his feet. He would awkwardly apologize and Tifa would push him up the stairs so he would finally undress and clean up.

Ignoring her water worries for the time being she took care of her customers as the lunch rush began to taper off with the storm's strongest patch, the wind whipping down the street. A few customers tried their luck with the storm, but most decided to stay in and buy an extra drink or two. Eventually they had to leave, reluctant as they were; there were jobs to do in Edge.

Alone, Tifa began to worry. What if there's a flash flood, and Denzel was caught in it? He could just be stranded somewhere, safe but shivering. Maybe Cloud had found him and they were both waiting out the storm, maybe Cloud took him to lunch or they were hanging out below an underpass. She nervously tapped her fingers against the counter, biting her lip.

After a few moments she pulled her cellphone out, wanting to call Cloud in case he could find Denzel out in the rain. Maybe she could close the bar down until he was found, she thought. Before she could press on Cloud's number a familiar rumble that wasn't thunder came closer and closer, and the sound of the automatic door creeping up was barely heard from within the downpour.

Tifa barreled into the garage, Cloud's silhouette and glowing blue eyes greeting her with an intense gaze. He was holding onto two masses that looked an awful lot like Denzel and Vits. She gasped and came up to Cloud, his eyes never leaving hers. "What happened?!"


	4. Getting Ahead of Yourself

**Thanks again to kelleyj17 for betaing!**

* * *

"D'you think we might be too far out?"

Denzel shook his head. "We're only three blocks away."

The two had been honing their sneaking skills together, playing about a warehouse and trying to sneak up on each other. They had gone farther out today, Denzel impatient to see something, anything. He knew they could handle it just fine.

The sky had been steadily growing greyer and darker as they practiced, the early afternoon sky threatening to open up on them. Still, they were reluctant to go home. The wind blowing from the northwest added just enough coolness to the air to make the day tolerable, and if they had to Denzel figured they could hide in one of the empty buildings nearby.

Some were warehouses, others storage buildings, and a few were derelict shops that had closed down for one reason or another. It was the perfect place to hide or make a secret fort. This place wasn't foreign to either child, either. The two had come here multiple times, but this was the first time they had been here in almost two weeks.

Denzel led Vits towards an old shop, and tried the door. He tried twisting it a few times to no avail. Grinning, he took out a small, thin piece of metal and a bobby pin. "I told you I'd show you how to pick locks," he said to his friend.

Vits' eyes widened and he crouched down to watch. Denzel slipped in the metal piece and then placed in the rigged part of the bobby pin. His face became tense with concentration, blue eyes focused on the lock. A little click issued from the lock after half a minute, and Denzel smiled. "You wanna hit that sweet spot, that's what Aunt Yuffie said. That clicking noise means you unlocked it."

Denzel twisted the metal then took them out, then turned the knob of the old store. It opened up to them, hot stale air hitting them as it invisibly poured out of the small space. Vits stood straight and looked inside the empty store. "Cool." Maybe Denzel's aunt really was a ninja. Or a skilled thief.

They decided to explore the shop first, before practicing anything more. At this point they naturally sneaked, watching their steps as they maneuvered around the enclosed space. A broken glass here, a few old bags of chips there. Denzel frowned, the dusty and dull light that came through the gaps in the boards of the window accentuating his displeasure. "Nothin' here."

Vits pointed towards a dark and narrow stairwell. "Maybe somethin' up here?"

Denzel looked behind his friend, then walked towards the stairs and up them. The white paint of both the walls and the steps flaked here and there, but the stairs themselves were solid. Vits followed behind, and they found themselves at a door.

Denzel tried the door, and it opened. There was a small living space above the shop, with a living room connected to a tiny kitchen and another door that possibly led to a bedroom. The two stepped onto the dusty brown rug, the light from the still intact windows helping them see. Still, the light was waning as the storm clouds grew thicker; distant thunder hit their ears at a faster pace now.

The floor creaked with their weight here and there, more for Vits than for Denzel. The living room wasn't totally bare, an old couch on one side and a box with a few CDs and trinkets next to it. The two of them rummaged through it and found a lighter and a tiny pocket knife that Vits took.

They made their way towards the tiny kitchen, not daring to open the fridge and looking about the drawers for anything interesting. "Nothin' much here," Vits said as he shut a drawer filled with forks and spoons.

"Wasn't expecting much in the kitchen, anyway." Denzel motioned towards the closed door. "Maybe there's something in there?"

He walked to the door and tried to open it, but this one was locked. Denzel held out the lock picks, and Vits took them almost reverently. "Your turn to give it a shot."

Vits put in the thin sliver of metal just as Denzel had with the front lock, then the bobby pin next. He bit his lip and jiggled the pin, trying to imitate Denzel's more skillful hands on the lock. His eyes squinted in concentration and growing irritation as the lock refused to budge, getting a pin here and there but not quite getting all of them.

"Easy. Take a few deep breaths and try again, Vits," Denzel said in a quiet voice, trying to encourage his friend.

Vits huffed, some sweat dropping from his brow. He tried again, the lock not budging for him. Denzel crouched to examine his work. "Aunt Yuffie says sometimes, you just gotta rake over the pins to get them to work," he offered.

"I'll try that," Vits said flatly. He breathed in slowly and then exhaled a sigh before pressing the metal sliver to the side of the hole and pressed the bobby pin down, then out. Some promising sounds made it to his ears, and he tried several more times before the lock released and the door was unsealed. "I did it!"

Denzel nodded, taking back his tools. "Maybe someday you'll be as good as me."

Vits chortled as he opened the door. "Just you wait."

The room was sparse but contained a few more cardboard boxes, a dresser drawer on the stained carpet, and another door that led to the bathroom. It was as dully lit as the living room, a few thin and pale curtains hanging limply by the windows.

The boys rummaged through the boxes, finding a little bit of gil, a baseball and a flashlight that still had some juice left in it. After a little more searching they gave up, took a look in the bathroom for anything else of use, then went back downstairs.

The sound of thunder grew louder as they made their way to the front door, and the two groaned. They would have to go home before they were soaked, but they still wanted to play and practice. "Maybe we should start this again tomorrow? They're gonna find out if we were too far away." Vits said sagely.

Denzel nodded. The last thing he wanted to be right now was in trouble. Sure, Cloud wouldn't care that much, but Tifa would have a fit. "Yeah. We can check out more of the shops tomorrow." Both boys turned to leave, walking down the road.

They froze as a horrible, muffled scream echoed through the abandoned road. The two looked around, pinpointing the sound to a warehouse whose front doors were fifteen feet away. It was a basic building, made of painted cinder block with two large metal sliding doors for forklifts to pass through. It was a little intimating, the paint chipping and the grey sliding doors tinged a dull orange here and there. Denzel fidgeted, torn between fear, curiosity and the tiny raindrops seldom falling onto his head that whispered of Tifa's wrath. Vits, too, looked torn.

Denzel knew they needed to get home, but the scream was too tempting to not investigate to the young boy desperate for some excitement. After a moment of indecision, Denzel charged towards the doors, lock picks out. Vits warily joined him, hesitantly following behind and watching his back. Despite the approaching storm the abandoned street was awfully quiet, the humid and stale air pressing down on his shoulders. He heard Denzel working the lock on the chain as he played lookout, and he wasn't sure if the sweat forming on his brow was from the heat or his nerves.

A click and Denzel hissing a "yes" issued behind him, and he turned to watch his friend very carefully remove the metal chain from the two doors after removing the lock. He very gently placed it on the ground, then slowly, very slowly, pressed his grip on the handle and opened the door a crack. A puff of heavy air moved his mop of wavy hair, and he listened into the darkness.

Silence.

He opened up the door a little more, mindful of the rusty hinges, and looked around. It was extremely dim, the dirty windows barely letting in any of the little light left outside, and he motioned his hands at Vits for the flashlight. His friend shakily handed it to him, and he clicked it on, a faint light barely piercing the quiet darkness. Denzel slid inside, Vits following close behind. He held the door back and gave way slowly to let it shut behind them as silently as was possible. Every groan and creak was like a firecracker to their ears.

The boys let their eyes adjust to the low light as Denzel shut the flashlight off to conserve what was left of the batteries; a small flash of lightning here and there giving them a glimpse of what was around them: A maze of containers and steel barrels, and a metal walkway above them. The stairs to the walkway were hidden to their eyes. Denzel shifted on his feet and began to sneak towards an open space, visible in shades of dark greys.

Vits followed behind, his ears straining to hear anything. The sound of heavy raindrops hitting the metal roof began, very slowly growing in intensity. It did not yet drown out any other sounds, if there were any other sounds to be heard. Occasionally a skittering noise would come from some distant corner; they would both bristle, but it was much too small a sound to be from a human.

Denzel sneaked on, holding the flashlight. He didn't need it quite yet with just enough light to see in the warehouse. A strange, heavy smell reached his nose and he wrinkled it. The stench was a mix of several familiar scents, reminiscent of a poorly maintained bathroom and something else he couldn't put his finger on. It unnerved him, but he pressed on towards the corner of the warehouse, dread curiosity overriding his good sense to leave.

"Denzel..." Vits barely whispered, his breaths becoming quick.

"Hm?"

"Flashlight."

Denzel fumbled around with the flashlight in his hands, clumsily turning it on again. It flickered awake, and he did a sweep of the area. Some chains hung by the wall a foot away from them, a few boxes and barrels lining the cinder block walls nearby. He aimed the light downward, a few spiders or beetles scuttling the edge of the concrete floor.

"Down down down-" Vits' voice was a little louder and panicked this time.

Denzel pointed the light down by him and stumbled back; he had been standing on the edge of a spreading pool of dark red liquid, brown dirt and tiny clots spiraling within. He put two and two together, the unknown smell and the color. It was blood, and a lot of it.

His breath hitched in his throat as his backward paces became faster until he stepped and tripped over something and shouted, landing on his bottom and dropping the flashlight. Denzel looked about wide eyed in a fearful daze before his eyes locked with another pair on the ground, illuminated by the flashlight.

It was a head.

The head looked like it belonged to a middle aged man, dirt covered brown hair and bruised face limp and pale. The eyes were green and half opened, the lids drooping, the jaw slack and the tongue lolling out as if to mock the children. Denzel thought his heart was going to pound out of his chest, and he heard only the sound of heavy rain and a squeak from Vits as the boy stared at the disembodied head.

Then it twitched, the eyes and mouth moving. Lighting flashed, making the clammy skin paler and the eyes almost glimmer with life.

They both screamed and Denzel kicked the head away from him as he scrambled to get up, splashing stinking blood about as the head rolled into the pool. "Oh, Gods..."

As he finally stood on his feet the worst sound they could think of at that moment reached their ears; the heavy metallic groan of a door to their right, hidden by the containers, opening. They looked at each other and bolted towards the door they entered from to their left, the rain getting louder but not yet drowning out the sound of heavy boots echoing off the concrete.

The two ripped the doors open, uncaring if the unknown person heard them or not. They had to leave before they ended up just like that head. Whoever it was would know someone was there anyway, since they left the flashlight in their haste to leave. If they were fast enough, whoever it was wouldn't know it was them.

The rain and gentle steam from the hot street was welcome and they barrelled away from that oppressive tomb, the rain soaking them and the wind whipping against them. They continued on, pushing themselves to the far end of the street where they caught their breaths.

Hiding under the cover of a shop's angled roof, they held their knees and gasped for breath. Denzel felt sick. He had stood in blood, and tripped and kicked a head! It made his skin crawl as he wondered where the body was, his imagination growing wild and dark. He wasn't unfamiliar with death, but there was a huge difference between someone dying of an illness and someone being murdered in cold blood. He shuddered, caused by a combination of cold and disgust.

"Hey, Denzel...Is that Cloud's bike?"

Denzel glanced up. Fenrir was thirty feet away, covered by a makeshift tarp roof tied to a building and held by metal poles. Not an uncommon sight in some parts of Edge. Denzel looked around and then ran towards the bike, Vits following behind while demanding he wait for him.

Puddles splashed upward onto their legs as they smashed their legs through them, running towards safe, familiar and comforting. Cloud is nearby, Denzel thought. He can take them home and away from dead men and murderers, he can keep them safe and sound. That's what Cloud did.

The two boys stood shivering under the tarp as the storm began to strengthen further. The wind would whip their faces with tiny drops of rain, adding to their misery as they hung onto hope that Cloud would be there to save them soon, and not some murderer that might be lurking nearby, watching them.

They decided to sit on the other side of Fenrir for some protection from the wind. The bike kept them a little drier, but any residual heat from the engine had long since dissipated. Their shoulders shuddered in the cooling air. At last came the sounds of footsteps splashing in the forming puddles on the street, but Denzel stopped himself from moving in case it wasn't Cloud. He peeked upwards.

The steps slowed and came to a halt by Fenrir, then a sharp sigh. "Man..."

"Cloud?"

A pause and a flicker of lightning, then a head with a tangle of soaked yellow hair and blue eyes peeked on the other side of the bike. Cloud's jaw went slack and his eyes widened. "D-Denzel? What are you doing out here?" His eyes went to Vits. "Don't tell me you were out here playing. This isn't a safe neighborhood."

Denzel slowly lifted himself up, Vits following. "Cloud, we were..." He looked down, the horrible memories fresh. He shook his head and sniffled loudly. He didn't want to explain himself right now, he didn't want to think. Vits kept his head down as well, his hands shaking from more that the chill of the rain and wind.

"Denzel?" Cloud called to him gently, leaning and softly holding his shoulder. Denzel looked back with haunted eyes, swallowing heavily. Then he looked back down again. Cloud tsked and looked around. There was a downpour, but they needed to get home before Tifa worried too much. He swiped away his wet bangs from his eyes. "C'mon, guys. I'll take you home. One front, one back."

Denzel nodded before looking up, Cloud opening a side compartment and reinserting one of his swords that had been resting in his back sheath. Closing the compartment he sat on Fenrir, then offered his arm for support. Denzel took it and swung onto the back, his favorite place to ride. Cloud took him to Seventh Heaven the first day they met, holding his hand throughout the motorcycle ride. He held on tightly to Cloud, smothering his face in his guardian's black vest.

Cloud helped Vits up next, situating him in front and shielding him with his body. "Hold on. I'm gonna get us back to Seventh Heaven as quick as I can." He turned the engine and, after a few moments of mentally preparing his route, he drove off.

The rain was harsh and the thunder loud, but Denzel felt safe. Warm. Cloud was here, keeping them safe. They would be home in no time. He just focused on that, banishing the disembodied head from his thoughts and the punishment Tifa would mete out after they got home.

Cloud and Tifa were going to want an explanation after they got home. He squeezed Cloud firmer, anxious. What would they say, what would they think? He stepped in blood and very possibly urine, the phantom smell coming to his nose here and there. He wondered why on Gaia he thought it was a good idea to investigate a scream in an abandoned warehouse, only to answer it with the pompous thought that maybe, he could have helped the investigation.

Now a murderer might have seen Vits and him, and try and find them. Kill them.

What should he say? He knew he couldn't keep quiet about a murder, but Tifa would be so terrified he wouldn't be able to leave the bar until the madman was caught. Maybe Cloud could soften her up a little, he hoped. Denzel felt the bike lurch into a turn.

He was in so much trouble.

It wasn't much longer before they found themselves in the garage, shielded from the wind and rain. Cloud lifted himself from Fenrir, and when the boys sat there still, staring off into the black metal of the bike, he scooped them up. Turning around to enter the bar, Tifa swung the door open at that moment.

Her eyes were wide and her face full of worry and fear. "What happened?!" she asked.

Cloud shook his head. "Dunno, but they're both spooked good. I found'em about three blocks away."

Tifa sighed through her nose and walked in front of Cloud as they entered the bar. "He isn't allowed so far out."

"I know." Cloud shook Denzel gently as he curled up in his arm. "Hey, buddy. You alright?" Denzel shook his head, his face in Cloud's soaked shirt. "I'm gonna take him to his room. Can you call Evan so he can pick up Vits?"

Vits groaned into the shirt he faced, not looking forward to the talking-to Kyrie and Evan would have in store. He helped himself down, still shaky, but Cloud held his hand until he was sturdy enough on his own two legs.

"I'll be right back, Teef." Cloud moved up the stairs, still cradling Denzel. He reached the boy's room and opened the door, placing him on his bed. Cloud bit his lip; perhaps it wasn't the best idea because he was soaked, but Denzel was very obviously exhausted.

"Hold on, buddy." Cloud quickly went to the wooden drawer on the other side of the room and took out a shirt and pajama bottoms, then left the room for a towel in the hallway closet before returning. He helped Denzel undress, the boy sniffling and avoiding eye contact the whole time. Cloud dried him off the best he could before dressing him in dry clothing and letting him lie down.

"Hey, just relax right now, Denzel. I don't know what has you so spooked, but...you're safe and sound." Cloud rubbed the child's shoulder, and Denzel nodded and tried to smile before his face crumpled again. "Try and get some rest. I'll be nearby, so if you need me, just call for me."

Denzel nodded again before swallowing. "Thanks, Cloud."


	5. Sweet Dreams

**Thanks to kelleyj17 for Betaing and helping with the dream!**

* * *

Tifa walked up the stairs as the storm continued on outside, looking to ask Cloud how Denzel was and to get Vits a towel. She had called Evan to let him know Vits was at the bar, then gave the boy some soup. Tifa tried to coax something out of the boy, but he wouldn't talk.

She turned into the low-lit hallway and saw Cloud leaning against the wall next to Denzel's room. He was staring at a sock he dangled in his hand, a ball of clothing held to his body with his other arm. "Cloud?"

He jumped and looked at Tifa, then the sock, then her again. He swallowed heavily and walked towards her. He was still soaked, his golden hair struggling to stand upright and arching slightly on his scalp. His clothing was heavy with rain, and his boots made a squishing sound. Cloud stopped in front of her, and looked at the sock again. "There's blood," he said quietly.

Tifa gingerly took the sock and studied it, her jaw going slack. One side of Denzel's sock was stained red and brown. "Oh!" She looked back up at him, his face a worried a frown. "I'll get some potions-"

Cloud shook his head. "That's not Denzel's blood."

A chill went down her spine. "What...?"

He motioned his head back towards Denzel's room. "It's not his. I dried him off, and there wasn't any cuts or anything on him. It's...someone else's."

Tifa felt sick to her stomach. Her boy was possibly at a murder scene, of all places. She looked at the sock again. Neither child wanted to talk, but she had a feeling they had seen something horrible; this small article of clothing confirmed it.

Cloud sighed and shifted the small pile in his arm. "I'm gonna clean up, Teef. I'll see you downstairs in a bit, okay?"

She looked at him, blinked a few times in rapid succession, then nodded. He moved to kiss her forehead before turning around and walking towards the bathroom. Tifa still held the sock, limp and moist in her hand as her eyes slowly went towards the floor.

The door downstairs opened, and Tifa snapped out of her thoughts to grab a towel out of the closet; she quickly turned on her heel to go back down the stairs. It was Evan, the detective shaking out his umbrella outside the door before closing it and leaning the practical accessory on the wall. He turned around and looked at a still stunned Vits, then Tifa as she leaned on the counter and motioned towards him to take a seat.

He did so next to Vits, casting a wayward glance at his ward as Tifa drooped the towel over his shoulders. "Vits," Evan began in a sharp voice, "where have you been?"

"They aren't talking, Evan." Tifa lifted up the bloody sock. "We think they saw something terrible."

Evan's jaw tensed as his eyes widened, looking at the sock. He looked down at Vits and slowly rubbed his back. Vits stiffened at the touch, then began to relax as he stared into the counter. "Vits...I know you're upset, but we need to know what you saw. Please."

The child was quiet for a while, the sound of the slowly waning storm and creaks from the second story punctuating the silence. "We saw blood. And a head."

Evan continued to rub Vits' back. "A head?"

Vits nodded as he held the towel closer to him. "Denzel tripped on a head in a warehouse. Then the back door opened, and we ran. We found Cloud's bike not too far away, and he took us back here."

Tifa was covering her mouth with a hand. Denzel tripped over a head? In a warehouse? She wanted to ask what they were doing so far out, but decided better of it; Vits was opening up to them, and they needed to know what happened. "What was the neighborhood like?" she asked gently.

The child squeezed the counter with his hands. Evan didn't stop rubbing his back. "I'm not gonna yell at you, Vits. I'm just happy you're safe," the detective assured Vits.

Of course Kyrie might yell at him, but it was comforting to know Evan wasn't going to join her in the talking-to. "Seal street. It was abandoned. Lots of run down shops and places to hide. We used to go there all the time." He took in a deep breath. "We heard a scream and, um...we went to go investigate it." His voice wavered.

"Okay. That's good enough for now," Evan said in a comforting voice. He decided he could ask more later, after Vits had calmed down. He looked back at Tifa. "I'll come back after I get him to his room, if that's alright."

Tifa nodded. "Cloud's here, so maybe he can help."

"Sounds good. Thanks for taking care of him for me." Evan helped Vits down from his seat and held his hand before fetching his umbrella and leaving again for the rainy street.

Tifa continued to study the sock, the red slowly turning brown. She turned around as a hand landed on her shoulder; Cloud was behind her, brows knotted together. He was dressed in clean clothing, and his hair was back to its usual, spiky self. "I just cancelled the few jobs I had left today. I'll get to them tomorrow."

She nodded, then sighed. "Vits said they found your bike nearby."

Cloud studied her a moment, then gave her a short nod. "Yeah. They were hiding behind Fenrir when I was returning from a delivery. No, it was a pick up." He shook his head. "Sorry. This has been one hell of an afternoon."

Tifa rubbed the arm drooping from her shoulder. "No kidding." She raised a brow questioningly at him. "Vits said the street was abandoned?"

He shrugged. "I get requests from the homeless sometimes, Teef."

"Oh." She looked down and chewed on the inside of her cheek. "It just seems strange."

"What does?"

Tifa let out a little sigh before looking back up at Cloud. "I...I know you've had a customer that may have had dealings with some of the recent murder victims."

Cloud's face became paler than usual. "What?"

"Rui Coltsfeld. I noticed when I was cleaning up your receipts. His name showed up twice...Rui wasn't the person you were delivering to today, was it?" Tifa searched Cloud with concerned eyes.

He looked down and to the side. "...Yeah," he said in almost a whisper.

"Cloud, that man might have had something to do with what Denzel and Vits witnessed. He could be the murderer we're looking for." Tifa frowned as a thought flickered in her head; if he was homeless he might not have the money to own a vehicle.

Unless it was just a guise to keep from using an address.

Cloud looked terribly guilty. Tifa rubbed his upper arm. "It's not your fault someone might be using you, and it's not your fault the kids saw what they saw."

His eyes flickered back up until they reached hers, and he sighed heavily. "So I'm gonna have to watch out, huh?"

Tifa nodded. Before she could continue the door to the bar opened, Evan again shaking out his umbrella and walking up to the counter. Tifa busied herself with several cups of tea, motioning to Cloud to take a seat; he was a part of this puzzle too.

As she waited for the tea to rest she filled Evan in with what she now knew, Cloud looking down at the counter in thought as she recounted everything to the detective.

"I already called the authorities. Vits remembered the intersection nearest to the places they were exploring, somehow." Evan looked Cloud's way, a small notebook and pen in his hands. "Can you give me a description of Rui?"

Cloud kept his eyes on the counter, tapping his fingers on the smooth, cool surface. "...Tan, dark eyes and hair. A little tall." He looked up as Tifa placed a mug of tea in front of him. "Average body, no defining features."

"None?" The detective looked up from his notebook.

He looked Evan in the eyes, then shook his head. "Not one to stick out in a crowd, I'm afraid."

Evan sighed, then took a sip of his tea. Tifa leaned on the counter again, her forearms propping her up and her mug next to her. "Cloud, you said you were doing a pick up for him before you took the children home..."

He stiffened, then paled. "Um..." Cloud stood up from his seat and marched into the garage. Tifa could hear him fiddling with Fenrir's compartments, cursing after a minute of rummaging around. He returned to the bar and plopped his hands on his legs, biting his lip. "I must've lost the letter when I took care of the kids."

"Maybe he'll get in contact with you quicker if there's a problem with that delivery," Evan offered. "It could have been meant for the next victim, and this might delay him."

Cloud nodded, then returned to his seat. "It's just that...now that something happened close to the bar, and that Denzel..." He looked down, sighing again. "I said I'd stay at the bar until they're caught." Cloud looked at Tifa.

She nodded slowly. He did say that. "But if you get a call from Rui, you might put a stop to this, Cloud." Another thought crossed her mind. Why hadn't she seen any calls for Rui? Maybe the kids or Cloud got to those calls first...

He nodded, but wrung his hands in his lap. "I'll let you two know."

"Was there anything else you maybe saw out of place?" Evan asked.

"I don't think so. I was too busy running through the rain." Cloud shrugged, then sipped his tea again. "Maybe I lost the letter out there..."

Evan's eyes brightened. "I'll let them know to look out for an envelope in the area. Maybe it survived the storm."

"Maybe."

The detective finished his tea as he sat in silence, looking over the scant notes he had. Evan stood up from his stool and nodded at the two. "I'm gonna make my way to the scene. Thanks a lot for picking up Vits, Cloud."

Cloud shyly smiled and nodded. "Anytime."

The rest of the afternoon had a tension to it, even as customers trickled in after the storm had tapered off. Cloud helped around the bar, serving and cleaning tables with Marlene as Denzel rested fitfully up in his room. They closed a little early, the evening dampened by both the weather and the afternoon's events.

"Is Denzel okay?" Marlene asked the adults as they cleaned the bar.

Tifa looked back at Marlene as she cleaned the counter. "He's fine, sweetie. Denzel's just a little tired."

The little girl snorted, then continued to wash a plate. "Him, tired? He's in trouble for something, isn't he?"

Tifa really hadn't thought about punishing Denzel for disobeying Cloud and her. She thought that perhaps he had gone through punishment enough with his ordeal; it might scare him into staying where he should be. "Something happened earlier, Marlene. We'll talk about it later."

She still wasn't sure what to think of this Rui Coltsfeld. The description Cloud gave made it seem he was unlikely to be the murderer; he didn't sound capable of causing the damage seen on those bodies. Tifa glanced at Cloud as he swept up dust and crumbs from the floor. He didn't look capable of that, either.

Cloud was toned, but he wasn't built anything like a bodybuilder. Still, because of the things done to him he was more than capable of amazing feats of strength one wouldn't think he could do at first glance. Maybe Rui had been tinkered with, too. But Cloud never mentioned mako eyes at all.

Rui was supposedly homeless, too. Or at least pretending to be. If he was responsible for the murders he would need access to materia or very strong potions. She thought that maybe Rui scavenged for the baubles; it wasn't as if materia wouldn't be occasionally found in the ruins.

Rui had transport, materia and access to weapons. He certainly wasn't homeless unless he wanted to be for ease of travel. Tifa glanced at Cloud again. Would he see this man again? After what happened to Denzel it might not be a good idea, she thought. He had that thoughtful, worried look in his eyes right now, mulling over everything. Cloud had gone up to check on Denzel several times during the afternoon, each time returning to the bar with guilty, downcast eyes.

He was always so hard on himself. But he hadn't failed Denzel...

Denzel eventually came down to eat, quiet and with a haunted gaze whenever he looked up. Tifa had made his favorite, pork-chops and mashed potatoes, to help his mood a little. She had asked Marlene to not ask any questions about what happened, again promising to tell the girl later. Cloud occasionally would rub his back, soothing him when his body tensed.

There was little to talk about but Marlene spoke of her day, trying to lighten the mood at the dinner table. Cloud caught on to her intentions and recounted a story about one of his clients tripping over his shoelaces and falling onto him earlier in the day, and even Denzel chuckled a little at the silly story.

Eventually they retired upstairs, Cloud wrapping his arm around Denzel's shoulder as he took him back to his room. Tifa watched from the doorway, Marlene off to the bathroom to clean herself up before bed.

"I'm still in trouble, aren't I?" Denzel said meekly.

Tifa walked into the room and sat next to Cloud on the side of the bed. "No, you've been in enough trouble today. I hope you understand why we want you to stay near the bar right now, Denzel."

He nodded before turning his head away. "I'm sorry. I didn't...I didn't think anything would happen."

"We're just glad you're not hurt," Cloud said. He rubbed Denzel's shoulder.

Tifa nodded. "Stay near the bar from now on. You can still visit Vits, but just stay nearby, alright?"

"Okay." Denzel sniffled. "I think I'll stay home tomorrow, anyway."

Mollified, the adults left after wishing him a good night. They did the same with Marlene before retiring to their bedroom, Tifa undressing and showering as Cloud read a book on the bed. Tifa came back to the warrior laying in bed, arms crossed. She walked to and laid down on her side of the bed, turning off her lamp.

She could feel the tension in Cloud's body as he lay there, stewing over the day's events. Tifa turned her head to look at him, then gently rubbed his arm. "Denzel will be okay."

He looked over at her, his glowing blue eyes studying her. "I know..."

"We'll get this guy, then everything can go back to normal. I know how much you hate being cooped up in the bar..."

Cloud gave a small squeeze to the hand still rubbing his bicep. "It's okay. I'll have time with you three, anyway."

She smiled. "Yeah."

He still seemed tense, even as he positioned himself on his side. His breathing never evened out as she drifted to fitful sleep.

* * *

 _It was a pleasant, balmy day on the south side of Edge. Tifa was in the Farmer's Market that was held every weekend on fourth street, where produce and other food products from Kalm and other villages were sold. If it couldn't be found at the local grocery store, it could probably be found here._

 _Merchants and farmers hawked their wares, from various cheeses to clothing. Many stalls focused on a single type of produce, like mushrooms or tomatoes. It was busy and the street was crowded with pedestrian traffic. A glimmer of gold caught her attention, and she walked towards it._

 _It was a shock of spiky golden hair, disappearing into the crowd. Tifa pushed through the wave of slowly moving people, trying to catch up. "Cloud?"_

 _She lost sight of him but continued on. When she thought she might have seen him, a taller man caught her eye. Dark hair, tan skin. He was dressed in threadbare clothing and walking the same way Cloud had been. She felt she had to follow him. Was this Rui? Her mind told her it must be him._

 _Eventually he too was swallowed by the crowd, and soon after she found Cloud again. He was still completely unaware of her, still traveling smoothly against the current of people. She called out to him again, and again he didn't hear her. He turned into an alley._

 _She peeked into the alley he entered, the sound of the crowd behind her somehow quieted. Cloud and the tan man- Rui, stood facing each other. Cloud had his arms crossed as he looked up at Rui, who was holding an envelope. He wasn't anything special to look at, a tall yet mundane man.  
_

 _"Try and not lose this, this time." The voice was deep and musical almost._

 _Cloud let out a dry chuckle. "Sorry. It was a hectic afternoon." He took the envelope and slid it under his shirt. "Who's our next victim?"_

 _The name came out as gibberish to Tifa. She bit her lip and squeezed the brick edge of the building she hid behind. Why are they doing this? The alley seemed to grow darker, as if a cloud was blocking out the sun.  
_

 _"Alright. Just make sure you choose a better spot next time. We don't need witnesses again," Cloud chided._

 _Rui snorted. "Yeah. Sorry 'bout that."_

 _Cloud shrugged. "This next person...she lives on the outskirts of town. Think we can dump her body outside of the city? People are getting nervous..."_

 _"I guess your missus would be worried sick now, wouldn't she? Yeah, they won't be lookin' that far out for bodies. Not yet, anyway."_

 _"Probably not. I'll scout out a cave in the crags near the sea. We can take her there alive," Cloud offered._

 _Rui nodded. "With that materia of yours it shouldn't be a problem. Where you get all those, anyway?"_

 _The spiky headed warrior shook his head. "I've got my secrets, just like you do."_

 _"As you wish." Rui looked towards Tifa. "But this secret is almost out."_

 _Before she could run away Tifa felt a hand grasp her shirt and pull her down roughly onto the alley's filthy pavement. She looked up into the eyes of both men, Rui's dark with an amused glint, and Cloud's glowing in a harsh stare. His mouth was a thin line; his face was a mask that hid his intentions from any but her._

 _"I was trying to keep you from getting involved, Tifa," Cloud said evenly. "Now I'm going to have to take care of the kids alone."_

 _"Wait, what? Cloud, what are you up to?!" Tifa demanded. She tried to get up but Rui pushed her back down roughly, holding her shoulders. She felt strangely heavy._

 _He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't have you running off to Evan." He sighed. "I never thought you'd be so curious over a few murders in a city."_

 _Tifa really didn't know what to say at first. He was willing to kill her? They had been through everything together, and he was going to kill her to keep up this sick little hobby? "Why are you doing this?" she whispered._

 _His glowing eyes narrowed, hard, green and cat-like now. "It should be obvious by now."_

 _She shook her head. No, it couldn't be that. Tifa glanced at Rui, and his eyes were much the same. Static clung to the air of the deathly quiet alley, what little light available slowly waning. She turned her head towards the farmer's market, and there was only a brick wall to greet her. Turning back towards the men, she swallowed hard. Cloud had one of his blades out; when did he fetch it?_

 _"I promise I'll make it quick and painless," Cloud said as he caressed her jawline with the sword. It scraped against her skin but drew no blood, not yet. Tifa again tried to move, to fight back, but her limbs felt like lead. Something wet pooled around her, but she didn't dare look down. Intuitively, she knew it was blood. How did it get there? There was blood weeping from the bricks.  
_

 _"Unlike the others..." Rui said with not just a slight hint of amusement.  
_

 _Cloud looked at him quickly, then back at Tifa. "I'm sorry you became involved." He raised his free hand and stretched out his fingers. "Sleep."_

* * *

Tifa jumped in bed, breathing quickly. She sat up in bed, trying to calm down. It was just a dream, just a dream...But what if Cloud really was working with Rui? The pesticide, his proximity to the warehouse, the stare he gave that flower shop owner...

Something didn't feel quite right.

"Teef?" She heard Cloud shuffle under the sheets, then his calloused palm on her shoulder. She willed herself not to shudder. "You okay?" He sounded tired, but he probably hadn't slept at all.

"I...Yeah. I just had a bad dream."

He let out a puff of air. "D'you wanna talk about it?" he offered gently.

Tifa shook her head. "No...I'll be alright." She turned to look at him, his tired eyes searching hers. He looked genuinely concerned. "Have you slept at all?"

He shook his head. "I keep thinking about Denzel...How that affected him."

She nodded. Did he really care? Probably. Whether he was involved or not, Cloud wouldn't want Denzel to look so terrified. "I see. Um, since you'll be staying home for a bit, maybe you can keep him busy. He would probably love to spend more time with you."

Tifa noticed Cloud smiling faintly, the skin on his face lit up ever so much by mako glow and a faraway streetlight. "Yeah. I'll take his mind off of everything."

She smiled back as genuinely as she could at those hopeful eyes of his as she laid back down. She suspected something was afoot with Cloud, but whatever it was she would bet Cloud would never actually harm any of them. It was just a dream, after all. Right? Cloud and she had killed before, but neither would have ever thought to harm family or friends. Tifa glanced at Cloud as he settled back down, more relaxed than he had been earlier.

Her mind flickered back to that nightmare, pressing doubt into her mind that she attempted to push away. She hoped his involvement was just coincidental and not purposeful.


	6. Who Are Rui?

**Thanks again to kelleyj17 for her help betaing and for her feedback.**

* * *

As it turned out, the newest victim was yet again another former Shinra employee. They had yet to find the body, but the head was still where Denzel had left it, or so Evan had said. There had been no signs of torture at all, just a clean cut through the neck, and that was that. The detective also said they had scoured the area for any trace of the letter from Rui, but nothing was ever found.

That had been nearly a week ago.

Cloud stayed and helped out with the bar, and despite her suspicions towards him she couldn't help but enjoy her workload being lifted with his assistance. Cloud had gone out with the children to play in the evenings, and Denzel was slowly returning to normal. It had pained them both to see him so shaken up, the nightmares bad enough to have him screaming.

It hadn't been every night. Only several during the week, in fact. Both adults were pleasantly surprised at his progress after experiencing such a thing. Every time he had a nightmare Cloud would lay down next to him, and Denzel would finally go to sleep after they talked quietly. Tifa found it a reminiscing scene, similar to the nights Cloud stayed with Denzel as his Geostigma flared.

Earlier in the week she couldn't help but ask Cloud about Rui. "So, has Rui contacted you again, or..."

He had seemed surprised at the question, as if she had reminded him of his duty. "Ah, no."

She had a frown on her face, humming worriedly. "You don't think he knows he's a suspect now, do you?"

Cloud shrugged. "If he saw the kids...or me with them, he might."

That made sense to Tifa. If Cloud didn't tip him off himself, she had thought. Of course it might all be a coincidence, she had to remind herself of that. More than likely that...It had to be. Cloud didn't torture people.

One day Cloud had gone off on Fenrir, claiming he had an itch to ride his bike. He took both children on a ride around Edge, then dropped them back off at Seventh Heaven. He had a shy smile on his face before sending them through the front door and telling them to help Tifa at the bar. Then he was off again.

Tifa heard the familiar rumble of Fenrir as it came close to the bar, then listened as the engine shut off in the garage. Cloud came through the door a few moments later with a plastic bag in his hand. It was lumpy and dripping water from what she hoped was perspiration. Tifa cocked her head, studying it. He raised it up.

"I got everyone's favorite ice cream flavors. Maybe we can all watch a movie together, after dinner?" he asked hopefully.

A smile grew on her face and her suspicions again weakened. "That would be fun, Cloud."

He stuffed the tiny tubs into the freezer as Tifa began working on several drinks for customers. She went to the table in the far corner of the bar and cheerfully gave the ordered drinks to her guests. In the distance and above the din of the bar she heard some wail of a siren. Not an unusual occurrence in Edge, but lately every time she heard them she wondered if it was for another victim.

The evening was pleasant. They had that movie night in the small living room, and they watched an old action movie made before Meteorfall. Cloud and Tifa groaned at the synopsis of the film; it was about terrorists taking over the Shinra tower and two young Turks who save the day.

"I think the 'bad guys' won in the end," Cloud grumbled into Tifa's ear as the movie started.

She chuckled as she opened up her small ice cream tub. "Kinda sorta maybe."

Marlene and Denzel enjoyed the movie, cheering on the Turks. Cloud and Tifa couldn't help but laugh at the random explosions, adult innuendos that went over the children's heads, and how the leader of the terrorists looked just a little bit like Cloud. Blond hair and blue eyes with angular features, but no spikes. His sexy love interest was a sadistic, dark haired woman.

"Hey Tifa, it's you!" Cloud whispered to her before eating a spoonful of vanilla ice cream. The children were transfixed to the screen, listening to the woman talk with a sharp accent.

Tifa rolled her eyes. "I'm not much for leather body suits and high heels." She watched the screen again, and a look of outrage crossed her face. "What? How in the hell are you supposed to do a roundhouse kick in those?!" She was jabbing her spoon in the direction of the television. Marlene looked back a moment, smiled, then went back to watching the movie.

Cloud covered his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut. He loved it when Tifa became flustered at martial arts in movies. He was trying his best not to fall into a fit of laughter as she lambasted the villainess' techniques like a rabid sports fan screams at their team for losing. "Teef, it's just a movie..." he squeaked out from behind his hand.

She snapped her head back towards him. "This is garbage! I wanna find whoever directed this movie and show him how martial arts are really done!" Tifa hissed.

He completely lost it. Cloud was one to let out chuckles and snickers, but a full on belly laugh was rare. But when he had one, it was usually because of some antic from his family. He snorted and laughed, then grabbed Tifa by the shoulders as she continued to berate the actress and the director. "Settle down," he said as he continued his fit of laughter.

The kids had turned back together to watch the adults. "Tifa, it's just a movie!" Marlene scolded. She was smiling despite Tifa interrupting her movie quietly. Cloud had Tifa wrapped in his arms and laying on his chest as she playfully tried to escape.

Denzel was giggling at them before returning his gaze to the movie again.

* * *

That was yesterday, and now her relaxed demeanor was replaced by anxiety as Evan strummed his fingers upon the counter of the bar, picking at his lunch. Cloud had gone out with Denzel and Marlene had gone over to the neighbor's house, playing with one of her friends. The bar was still empty, the lunch rush another half an hour away.

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked, her forearms resting on the counter near the quiet detective.

He slowly looked up and into her eyes, then let out a puff of air. "There was another murder yesterday. About a block east of the last one."

Her brows went up momentarily. "It's not...?"

A longer sigh passed Evan's lips. "Not elaborate torture, but a blade was used." He tightened his jaw, obviously perturbed by what he had witnessed. Tifa wondered how it could be any worse than what they had seen before. "Still, it was drawn out, unlike the last murder."

"So it's probably Rui..."

Evan shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know anymore. The victim was a child, but the parents were former Shinra employees."

Tifa gasped. "He's killing children?" This was a whole new level of depraved.

He nodded before glancing about the bar and leaning in. "I'm not making any accusations, but I want you to keep a close eye on Cloud, please."

Her eyes studied him for a moment. "Why?" she asked in a quiet, suspicious tone.

Evan chewed on his lip and squeezed his fist a little before responding. "There...was a witness. Another child."

"He wasn't-"

"No," Evan interrupted. "They didn't see Cloud. They saw glowing blue eyes in the shadows of the alley, however."

Tifa squeezed her hands tightly. A sick feeling welled up in her gut, screaming that something was wrong as she tried to reason it away. Cloud wasn't the only one out there with glowing blue eyes. Cloud wouldn't ever harm a child, especially after watching him celebrate with them in the pool in Aerith's church. Not after they had a good time watching movies and eating ice cream.

He went out for ice cream yesterday. Then a while later there were sirens. "I...doubt he would do something like that to a child," she said as firmly as she could.

"You know him better than I do. But he's suspect...especially since that means he lied about Rui's description," Evan offered grimly. "If it's still him."

That was another blow to her gut. "Maybe Rui used contacts? They could cover the glow."

Evan hummed, not quite convinced but not tossing out the possibility either. "Maybe. I won't mention Cloud to the authorities just yet, but please keep an eye on him. He's involved through Rui, if that man even exists."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I can't find a damn thing on him. It's probably a fake name." He shrugged, not sure either way.

They heard the sound of Fenrir approaching, and Evan put some gil on the counter for his lunch. Tifa slid it towards the til. "I'll keep an eye out."

Evan tipped his black felt hat down a little and nodded. "I'll keep you posted." He slid off of his stool and briskly made his way to the front door before Cloud could enter the bar.

Tifa felt that that might be a good idea. She felt Evan might avoid the bar while Cloud was around so he couldn't eavesdrop on their conversations. It hurt to think like this, she thought. She just couldn't believe he was capable of what those pictures showed her, and certainly not child killing.

She hoped.

For now, Tifa felt it was safe to discuss the new murder, just not that there had been a witness. Cloud would expect some news from Evan, she just had to play it safe. She bit her lip. What if he was behind the murders, what then? Would he try to kill her if she found out? Her mind went to that nightmare.

What would she do?

"Hey, Teef. Everything alright?" Cloud's head and shoulders were peeking out of the door to the garage, Denzel trying to wriggle past his leg. The spiky haired man had a brow raised and a slight look of concern on his face.

Tifa hadn't noticed until then that she had been biting her nail. Her eyes fell to Denzel, who was now charging up the stairs, then back to Cloud. He was in front of her now, searching for an answer. "Tifa?"

"There was another murder," she barely whispered.

He looked absolutely shocked. "Are you serious?"

She frowned. "Of course I am." Tifa looked away and sighed, then leaned against the counter before looking back up at him. "It was a child this time."

Cloud's eyes widened, and his jaw slacked. "I...A child? Someone's killing children?" he asked in a hiss of a whisper.

Tifa nodded. "They think it's Rui."

His face paled. "What? Why?" he demanded.

She was studying his responses. They were far more animated than before. "Torture. A blade was used again."

His slack jaw tightened just like his fists. Cloud shook his head before looking towards the floor. "Someone killed a kid..."

Tifa nodded. "Cloud, are you sure you haven't heard from Rui at all?"

He snapped his head back up. "...No." Cloud ran a hand through his spikes before turning around. "I...need to think." He walked upstairs, Tifa listening to his footsteps go towards his office. The door shut, and his boots paced the floor, the smallest creak heard here and there. It reminded her of the days when he would hole himself up in the office, drinking or staring out the window as he brooded over unknown and dark subjects.

His response to this new murder was far less casual than the other ones. He nearly blew them off. But this one had him upset, if it wasn't an act. An act...Cloud was a terrible liar, but she could tell there was something being hidden from her. She just didn't know what it could possibly be.

* * *

Denzel left his room, thinking about his lost lock picks. He felt certain Cloud had found and taken them, and the preteen was grateful Tifa hadn't been alerted to his new hobby. Still, he wanted them back eventually. He had thought of sneaking into Cloud's office to look for them, but the warrior had occupied the room almost since they had come home. He could hear Cloud pacing almost the entire afternoon.

The boy came downstairs for dinner and immediately noticed the tension in the air as Cloud sat stiffly at the family table, eyes cast downward and arms limply at his sides. There was some sort of guilt behind that stare, but for what he couldn't fathom.

He sat next to his guardian and looked his way. "Hey, Cloud."

Cloud glanced his way and mumbled a pathetic greeting. He was a million miles away again. Denzel hated seeing Cloud like this, it put a damper to just about everything. What's more, he really wasn't sure why the warrior would brood so much lately. Denzel knew he had seen things, but he was sure he hadn't been told the worst of it. Still, wasn't it deep in the past?

Tifa disturbed both of their thoughts as platters of food were placed in front of them. Cloud continued to stare into the space that was now occupied by his meal, and Denzel cast a concerned look at him. Everything had been going so well...

"Hey, Cloud. What's wrong?" Marlene was watching him intently.

He slowly looked up from his food and into her warm, brown eyes. "Nothing. I just remembered there was something I had to do." Cloud took a deep drag of air through his nose and sat straight, grabbing his fork.

"Oh. What's that?" Denzel asked as Tifa came with the last plates of food, her eyes watching Cloud.

Cloud looked at Tifa as she sat down, chewing a bite of food. "I think I'm gonna watch the neighborhood from now on."

"...Cloud?" Tifa's brows came together, eyes wide.

He shook his head. "You were right, it isn't safe. I'm gonna keep a look out."

Denzel smiled at the proclamation by his hero, but Tifa's frown deepened. "The authorities are on the case, I'm sure they'll find him-"

"No," Cloud interrupted. "No...I don't think they will. They haven't solved anything." He sighed in between bites of potato. "I'll fix this myself."

Tifa didn't speak after him. She really wasn't sure what to say to Cloud. Whatever he was up to, that tone of voice meant he was going to act; nothing would stop him until he was finished with whatever task he had put himself up to. Was he covering for Rui? Was he going to track down Rui?

The rest of the night was subdued, even as Tifa found herself in bed next to Cloud. He was staring at the ceiling and pinching the fabric of the sheets that covered his legs. One arm was over his abdomen, and he sighed every so often. He looked pained.

"Is there any more information on the murder?" he suddenly asked, making Tifa jump.

She thought a few moments. "Um, he said it was a block east of the last murder. The victim was a child of former Shinra employees."

Tifa heard Cloud sigh heavily. "I see. I'll...I'll keep watch in that area, then."

She wished that she could say he was being altruistic, but she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. Maybe he and Rui had a deal, and now the mysterious man was killing people without Cloud? Or maybe Cloud rescuing the boys triggered this. Maybe it's a warning. Cloud was a terrible actor, and she knew whatever was happening behind the scenes would be revealed eventually.

Tifa tossed and turned for a long while before an uneasy sleep came to her, and she wished it hadn't.

* * *

 _She was in a dark, gritty alleyway, the grey sky adding to the dreary gloom. There were two shadowy silhouettes leering down at a lump on the ground, dark liquid pooling on the filthy concrete. A dry breeze from the wastes blew by, the smell of blood wafting to her nose._

 _"He was trouble."_

 _She looked up at the source of the voice. It came from one of the shadow men in front of her. Her brow wrinkled as unease formed in her gut. "Who was trouble?"_

 _The two looked up at the same time. Bright blue eyes, two pairs of them, stared at her. They jabbed their sword in the direction of the bleeding lump. "The boy. My boy." One voice was strong, the latter a whisper._

 _Despite what happened in her last nightmare she walked forward, making out Rui. He was the taller shadow, she knew. "Rui."_

 _"I am Rui. I am Rui."_

 _She stopped right in front of them. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded._

 _They shook their heads. "It's not for you to know. I'm sorry, Teef." The voices were beginning to overlap._

 _"...Cloud?" she asked as her hand came to her mouth._

 _"I am Rui I am Rui Rui Rui Rui Rui Rui Rui Coltsfeld-" The two were merged into a shorter silhouette. It had familiar spiky hair and shining blue eyes, and wore a thick black cloak. "I am Rui Coltsfeld."_

 _Tifa shook her head. No, he couldn't be the one. But there was no one with that name, Evan said so. "No, you're Cloud."_

 _Cloud blinked. His eyes were green and cat-like, but not harsh. Just...lost. They reminded Tifa of the day he lost his mind in the Northern Crater. "I am Rui am Cloud Rui Strife Cloud Coltsfeld." He looked down at the lump. "I'm sorry."_

 _Tifa looked down after him and the blood soaked clothing were familiar shades of blues and browns, one leg still weakly trembling from nerves. Her ruby eyes traveled a few more feet to the back of a head, the wavy brown hair caked in dirt and blood._

 _"He saw too much I'm sorry sorry sorry-"_

 _She couldn't stop screaming, even as she held the still warm body of her boy. Tifa cradled Denzel's corpse to her chest, heaving and crying. Cloud stood stone still, bloody sword still in hand. Didn't he care at all? "You brought him from the church just to die by your hands!"_

 _"Sorry sorry sorry sorry must be done sorry-"_

"Tifa?"

 _"Leave me alone, murderer!"_

 _"_ H-hey! Wake up!"

She cried out again, but refused to wake up as oblivion from despair in her nightmare consumed her.


	7. Anxiety

**Thanks to kellyj17 for helping me work on dialogue and betaing!**

* * *

"Hey. Tifa?"

She felt a warm hand on her cheek and she immediately recoiled. Tifa blinked open her eyes and gasped as two blurry blue dots stared back at her in the darkness. It took her a moment to register that it was Cloud, and she rubbed her eyes to fend off her fogged vision. It didn't exactly relax her to see him.

He shifted more on his side. "Are you alright? You were having a nightmare." His voice was a little husky.

Tifa really couldn't make out his face very well, her vision still muddled from stubborn sleep eye. "I'm fine, Cloud," she said tensely as she shifted her body to lean on her arm.

Cloud softly put his hand on her free arm and rubbed upwards. She closed her eyes and squeezed her hand into a fist. _'It was just a dream, it was just a dream...'_

"Teef?"

She opened her eyes again, her vision clearing some more. She could barely make out his face with the faint light gifted by dull lights and his eyes. It was wracked with worry. "I'm fine," she repeated. "It was just a bad dream."

He didn't look convinced and he let out a short breath before slowly nodding. "O-okay...If you wanna talk about it later, or if you need anything, just ask. Alright?" She nodded and he leaned in and kissed her forehead before shuffling back onto his side of the bed, facing her as he curled up and closed his eyes. He hadn't noticed her flinch at his affection.

Tifa slowly laid back down onto her back, staring at the ceiling. Bits of the dream played back in her mind. What if he really was Rui? Or maybe Rui was something in him. Or it was just a coincidence, and he was being dragged into this because a psychopath wanted to use his delivery service. She held onto that as she drifted back into sleep after an hour of thinking and shifting in bed.

* * *

Breakfast had been tense for Tifa, but Cloud seemed wrapped up in his own thoughts as he gnawed on a piece of sausage. She couldn't stop studying him and everything he did. He seemed agitated and forlorn.

After the children had scarfed down their food and left the table, Tifa sucked in a deep breath as Cloud picked at a piece of egg. "I'm going with you."

His eyes immediately locked onto hers and he raised a brow. "What about the kids?"

Tifa cursed in her head. Think think think... "...Maybe they can go to their friends' houses."

"But what about the bar?"

"I can close it during the afternoon."

He shook his head. "I'm patrolling after breakfast."

She bit her lip and thought. They could run the house on the bar's income, but without the delivery service they would have less cushion in case of an emergency where they really had to close the bar for a little while. Still, she was unnerved that he insisted she stay.

"Besides, what if something happens in the neighborhood? You'd keep the kids safe if something bad happened," Cloud said before eating more of his breakfast.

She knew he wouldn't be convinced and gave him a curt nod. Maybe she could find something out of place in his office while he was out.

They finished their breakfast in silence, and before Cloud left he hugged Tifa tightly. He kissed her lightly on the cheek before looking at her with eyes full of grim determination, but never noticed how she had stiffened. "If anything happens, call me."

Tifa nodded, and hesitantly gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Stay safe, Cloud." She meant it. Even if she felt like a paranoid mess right now, she didn't want him injured or killed. Being a suspect didn't mean guilty...

He smiled thinly at her, then turned around and disappeared into the garage. The familiar rumble of Fenrir made the walls vibrate a minute later, and then it slowly disappeared into the distance. Tifa waited a few minutes more before heading upstairs to check on the children. They would probably play outside soon, but for now seemed content to read a book or comic.

She quietly entered Cloud's office and went towards his desk. Tifa opened up the drawers to look for something, anything that was evidence of either guilt or innocence, and she hoped it was the latter she found. She opened up the top drawer and frowned as she came across what looked like lock picks.

What would Cloud need these for?

She placed them on top of the desk and continued rummaging. There were a few copies of his business statements, a receipt for an axle repair, and a few paper clips. The next drawer contained folders that Tifa herself had placed in there to help him organize his papers, and it looked like he had been using them.

The other drawers held no clue to confirm or deny her suspicions, except a sphere of materia in the corner of the bottom drawer. It was a Restore materia, nothing she would consider out of place. She studied it in the light of the room; it was one of the mastered ones that Yuffie hadn't taken with her to Wutai when Cloud promised to keep the most dangerous ones safe and in his care.

Her mind flashed to the pictures of Harran. This materia could be used to cast regen.

 _'Why would he have this out?'_ Of course he could have used it on the road and put it in here when he found it in his pocket if he was tired. Maybe he used it on someone that needed help. Right? Harran...That brought a question to mind, and she sat on the chair in front of the desk, her head reclined onto one hand and the other holding the materia.

She simply couldn't believe Cloud killed that child, even if there were glowing blue eyes seen in the shadows. He hadn't been gone all that long at all before he came back with the ice cream. Unless he already had the target where he wanted them, and maybe tortured them for a couple of days...

But it wasn't in his nature to do that, and he had been at the bar or with the kids most of the week.

Tifa felt in over her head as she tried to cling to any thread of hope that he wasn't the killer. Cloud was someone she loved dearly, someone she knew so very well after being so close to him in the Lifestream. What could she have missed within him, if he was truly the killer? Her mind went back to her dream and those sad, lost, cat-like green eyes. Maybe it was that.

Did he stop fighting the remnants of Sephiroth's influence? What if he was unaware of what he was being made to do? It clicked in her head. Yes, Cloud might be losing against an alien will. How would she protect him? Should she? Every time she felt doubt and looked into those blue, soulful eyes she just wanted to keep him there, with her. Safe and sound.

Standing up and pocketing the lock picks, she went back downstairs to prepare the bar and start another batch of Corel Wine.

Cloud came back at noon, and Tifa prepared his lunch as he sat brooding at the counter. She startled him out of his reverie as she placed a platter of food in front of him.

"How was your patrol?" she asked quietly.

"...Fruitless." He stared up at her as he grabbed his fork. "Are there any more clues that could help me find whoever is doing this?"

She sighed and looked away as she grabbed a dry rag. "...No."

"I see." He was silent for a few minutes as he ate some of his lunch. "It's gonna be hard to find who ever did this, unless they slip up," he said after swallowing a bite.

Tifa squeezed her fists and bit the inside of her cheek. "I know," she said quietly. "But..."

Cloud glanced at her. "Hm?"

She hesitated to say anything, but it had to be asked. "If it's Rui...Wouldn't you know where his usual haunts are?" Her eyes met his.

He stiffened, his face somehow paler than it had been an instant ago. "It...changed, from delivery to delivery."

"Oh. So...I guess you wouldn't know where to find him, then." If her dream was correct... _'I just want to scream at him. He knows I'm not stupid. Unless he doesn't know, because it's Jenova...'_

Cloud looked away. "No, I wouldn't."

"I...see."

He finished his meal and left again, but not before catching up with Tifa. Are the kids alright, would she need him home early for the dinner rush? It was a small slice of life from before this madness entered their lives. Later in the afternoon she heard distant sirens, and she couldn't help but wonder if Cloud was involved somehow.

She had an answer to her thought brought to her several days later.

* * *

Evan had entered the bar, glancing at them both. Cloud was looking back as he chewed on a mouthful of his lunch, and Tifa stopped her wipe down of the counter to greet him and motion towards a seat.

The detective sat down at his favorite stool and chewed his lip as Tifa came to him and leaned on the counter. He turned his head to look at Cloud for just a moment before returning his eyes to Tifa's. "Another murder occurred."

Her eyes widened and she quickly looked at Cloud. He held a look of grim surprise and guilt. She looked back at Evan. "It's not him, is it?"

He nodded. "Same M.O.. This one was in the neighborhood of the beheading, however."

"Were there any witnesses?" Cloud asked. He was leaning his hands on the counter, his intense gaze boring into the detective.

"Not this time," Evan almost stuttered out.

"Not this time...?" Cloud's brows came together. He looked at Tifa, who was squeezing the edge of the counter.

"Um..." Evan's eyes darted between the two. "There were unconfirmed rumors..."

"Of what?" Cloud softly demanded. "We can't track them down if we don't have clues, something to identify them with."

The detective rubbed his face. "The only suspect we have is Rui, and he hasn't appeared. We can't find him."

Cloud sighed harshly. "Right, right..."

"Was it another Shinra employee?" Tifa asked, concerned. They would get nowhere asking Cloud about Rui. He either didn't know or didn't want to say. He seemed agitated for answers. Was he doing these things, but unaware of it? Again those cat-like green eyes flashed in her mind.

"Another of their kids. Whoever it is, they're focused on Shinra employees. They either make them, or their children, suffer." Evan rubbed his hands before Tifa offered him a mug of tea. "Granted that's not a huge pool of children, and there's a larger pool of adults. For some reason they switched to kids."

Tifa looked towards the stairs anxiously before grabbing one of her pans hanging from a hook under a cabinet; they had a child that could be one of the next victims of this madman. Her eyes widened as she glanced quickly at Cloud before she looked down; she clumsily set the pan down on the stove top and brought her hands to her sides as she stared off into nothing at all but the tile floor.

Denzel.

"Teef? What's wrong?" Cloud was leaning over his half eaten plate.

"D-Denzel." She took a steadying breath before turning around and looking into Cloud's eyes.

He cocked his head. "What about him?"

Tifa frowned. "Don't you remember? His father worked for Shinra!"

Something clicked in Cloud's head, and she couldn't quite read the expression on his face at first. His eyes narrowed and it took all of her willpower to not shudder. "Oh."

Evan raised a brow, feeling antsy as he overheard the two. "Denzel had a parent who was an employee of Shinra's?"

Cloud looked towards him and nodded. "Yeah. I...forgot about it." He stood from his seat while sighing heavily and passing the counter, then trudging up the stairs. Tifa heard his footsteps enter his office, then the door shut.

The detective groaned and he leaned his forehead on his hand. "It might not have been him," he whispered to Tifa as she came to him on the other side of the counter.

Tifa scrunched her brows together, but there was hope in her heart. "How come?"

"There were people who claimed to see him walking about the general area of the first child murder. Granted it wasn't that far away from this new murder, but there's some doubt. Time doesn't quite match."

Tifa nodded. Of course, he was just handing her some hope at this point. Something to hold onto as things became clearer.

"Maybe it's another Soldier, or maybe Rui is just some ringleader...I don't know. This might complicate everything." He shrugged. "It makes Cloud less of a suspect, because there's a smaller window of time where he could have done this." There was relief in his voice; he was wary of Cloud under the circumstances but had hoped against hope that his involvement was purely coincidental.

Still, Tifa felt unnerved. Cloud could be quick on his feet. Her nightmare from several nights ago replayed in her head every so often, and now he was acting strange because he had forgotten Denzel's father's occupation. "I'm at a loss."

Evan took his hat off, ran his hand through his chin length hair, then put it back on. "Curiouser and curiouser." His pager beeped several times and he took it out to see what would call him away from lunch. His eye twitched as he read the message, then he looked up at Tifa. "Another case. I guess we'll see if he's just been patrolling again, won't we?"

She pinched the skin of her forearm. "Come by tomorrow, lunch is on the house." It was her invitation to talk more.

The detective smiled a little before moving off of his seat. "Maybe. Take care, Tifa." With that he swiftly took off towards the front door, leaving Tifa alone with her thoughts.

Part of her wanted to march upstairs and demand answers from Cloud. She knew he was hiding something, but what? He was involved somehow, someway. Those green eyes in her dreams...

Another, more paranoid part of her was afraid he might finally snap if he was found out in whatever way he was involved. The Cloud she knew would never harm any of them, but if something had shifted inside him Tifa doubted she could fight against him for very long.

It wasn't that she did not think herself a capable fighter, it was that Cloud was physically in a league of his own. His swords were extensions of himself, he was strong enough to handle a huge sword with one hand, and he was deadly quick. His reaction time was enough to block bullets with his swords.

The bar was still empty and she felt fidgety. Tifa made her way upstairs to check on Cloud; she truly was concerned for him, regardless of the suspicion. She knocked on the door to his office, and he looked up from the chair by his desk, nodding.

Tifa entered and slowly walked towards him. She gingerly put a hand to his shoulder, as if he were a wild animal she was slowly taming. He seemed to relax at her touch. "Are you alright?" she asked.

He sighed and rubbed his hands as he slouched in his seat. "I feel helpless, Teef," he admitted to her. He looked up at her with a sad expression on his face before lowering his eyes.

"I feel helpless, too." Tifa sat on the bed next to the desk, glancing at the pictures and flowers.

Oh, how she wished to just confront him, but it felt like the time she had no idea what was going on with his forged memories years ago. She treaded on eggshells then, and she did it now, unsure of everything she might know. To trust him, to not trust him? What should she do? What about Denzel if this is somehow just an act? Tifa looked into Cloud's eyes as they looked up again, they looked so lost.

Lost as they were in that dream. Was her intuition trying to tell her something? Her thoughts always went to that sad, lost face looming over Denzel's body in her dream. A reluctant puppet.

A puppet.

Maybe she could test him, see if it's really him in there. "I kinda feel like I did when we were stuck in the Shinra Tower..."

He snorted. "The prison cells? Yeah. Yeah, it feels about the same, doesn't it? You couldn't do anything but wait for them to come for you."

She nodded. "Do you remember what we did in there?"

Cloud looked away and rubbed the back of his neck before returning his gaze to her. "You gave me the cold shoulder because Aerith teased about going on a date with me, and I had to sleep on the concrete floor."

Tifa blushed and twirled about a strand of hair. That did happen. She had been not just a little jealous at the time, and being captured did absolutely nothing for her mood. Still, that was just one memory. If something was controlling him it would have to slip up sometime.

"If Denzel is possibly in danger, we'll need to keep a close eye on him," Cloud said after many moments of silence.

Tifa nodded. "The adult murders were bad enough to look at, and now they're doing that to children..." The thought of any of that happening to Denzel or Marlene sickened her.

Cloud stared at her. "Look at...?"

She blushed and bit her lip before fiddling with her hair and looking away. "I...might've taken a look at the pictures of the crime scenes." Tifa looked back at him.

He was gawking at her, his eyes full of shock and dread. "Evan...showed you those?"

"I was curious..."

Cloud shook his head, then leaned into his hand as his knee propped it up. "I...guess it doesn't really change anything if there's still no clue as to who is doing this to kids."

Tifa considered his words, frowning. "You still don't seem concerned about the earlier murders."

"...They weren't kids."

"But if it's the same person...what if they did those things to one of our friends, or to you or I?" She shifted uncomfortably. "Cut open and dissected, our bones smashed, water boarded and left to rot in a lonely old ruin-"

"Tifa," Cloud said in a pained voice, his face a mess of discomfort. "None of that is going to happen to anyone we care about. Ever."

She appraised him, looking into his eyes. Someone saw eyes similar to those in the shadows. "We don't know that until they're found."

He sighed. "Let's hope they slip up so we have something to go on. I don't like seeing you like this..." Cloud brought a hand to her cheek and rubbed it with his thumb. She didn't pull away but placed a hand on his knee and squeezed.

"Cloud, have you been feeling alright lately?" she asked quietly, cautiously.

He gave her a gently incredulous look. "As alright as anyone would be when they're searching for a child killer."

She huffed, but gave no reply. Tifa would test him over the coming days and if she had to, keep him around the bar just to see if he had anything to do with these new murders. If there was one thing she knew she had to do, it was to find out Cloud's involvement in all of this before something horrible finally happened to one of their children.


	8. Memories Best Left Forgotten

**Thanks again to kellyj17 for Betaing! I kinda felt inspired with this chapter.**

* * *

The next day was much the same, Tifa casually testing Cloud's memory here and there before he left after breakfast to patrol a neighborhood far closer to the bar.

"What was it you said to Yuffie that time she started to go on about Wutai after we finally got our materia back?" Tifa asked.

Cloud looked away with a grin growing on his face. "I told her I didn't care about Wutai or her feelings." He looked at Tifa again. "I guess Barret's right, I can be a bit of a jackass sometimes."

Despite her anxiety she couldn't help but chuckle. "A very well intentioned jackass," she corrected.

"Hm. You've been bring up some old memories this morning. Is there a special occasion?"

Tifa shrugged. "I guess I've just felt like reminiscing lately."

He nodded. "Yeah. I do appreciate the distraction, Teef." He liked dredging up some of the memories, a relaxed smile growing on his face before he had to leave.

Well, at least he was enjoying it.

Evan had not come today for lunch, but Tifa figured he must be busy. Denzel had gone over to play with Vits, but promised to be back in time for the dinner rush. Tifa didn't mind the time alone or with Marlene when she decided to help out early. She had to think of some other memory that would make him slip up.

Maybe she could snap him out of it somehow.

Cloud had come home for lunch, another fruitless search had before he left again. Tifa had asked a few more questions, but instead of smiling he frowned at her.

"Are you sure you're just thinking about the past?"

Her cheeks turned pink. "Well, yeah. Why else would I bring them up?"

Cloud shrugged. "Just worried you might've been having trouble remembering or something." He stood up from his seat and began to walk towards the front door, but not before turning around and giving Tifa a concerned look.

She waved her hand and shook her head. "I'm fine!"

His gaze lingered on her for just a few moments more before he said goodbye and left. She stared at the front door to the bar as Fenrir rumbled to life, the sound eventually disappearing down the road. All she was left with was the sound of the ceiling fans and her own heartbeat.

He came back home in the evening, wondering what he could possibly find without anything to go on. Tifa gave him a pat on the shoulder as he stood next to her, looking over the eating area of the bar as a few customers ate and drank and talked.

"Hey, I'll make your favorite tonight. That should make you feel a little bit better, right?"

He slowly turned his head to look at her, his brows coming together as he studied her. His frown told her she had tested the wrong thing. "You make that once a year because the ingredients are hard to come by, remember? My birthday isn't until next month, too."

Tifa stared blankly at him as her cheeks burned from her mistake. Cloud crossed his arms, cocked his head and raised a brow. "...You _do_ remember what my favorite food is, right?"

"Ah..." She bit her lip. "Graatlemoner. I mean graatlmnr! With kitjamoljn sauce."

"Nibeli enn jou vita?" he tested. Tifa had butchered graatlmnr horribly.

She scoffed. "Of course I still understand Nibelese. I think it's just the heat getting to me, Cloud."

He grunted, then looked away to lean his elbows on the counter. "If you say so, Teef."

Tifa squeezed her fists. Maybe she had asked too many questions, and now he was catching on. _It_ was catching on. She decided to back off for now, before he became more suspicious. She saw him watching her out of the corner of his eye or when he thought she wasn't paying attention.

The dinner rush slowly began, and Tifa began to focus on food and drinks as Denzel cleaned tables or sweeped up refuse. The boy had seem to have gotten over his scare in the warehouse, though he had a newfound weariness creep into his eyes before he left the house to visit friends every afternoon.

The bar was filled with regulars and a few new people she greeted and talked to as Cloud helped fill glasses with beer or serve Corel wine to take some burden off of Tifa. She had brightened the lights in the bar when he worked with her to minimize any hint of his eye glow; to her they were welcoming, but to a stranger they could be downright bone chilling in the wrong lighting. A few female customers would flirt with him, causing him to clam up and Tifa to shoot a venomous look their way. She was suspicious of Cloud but he was still _her_ boyfriend.

Her reactions would be considered far more subdued than Cloud's could be, of course. In the past he had intimidated several customers for flirting a bit too much and had fought with drunk guests that thought it was a good idea to touch her. Tifa noticed he had that glint in his eye as he looked at a new customer that sat himself at the counter.

He had blue, almond shaped eyes a few shades lighter than Cloud's, and light brown hair that curved upward in layered points. His face had rounder features, but he wasn't unattractive. Tifa walked up to him and put her forearms on the counter and leaned towards him. "Welcome! I don't think we've met yet. My name's Tifa, and I'm the owner of this bar."

Tifa could feel Cloud's eyes watching them instead of the beer tap.

"Name's Raz Alva. I work with one of your neighbors, Evan, on occasion." He brought out a hand and offered it to her.

Tifa took it and gave it a firm shake. "Oh, you're a detective, too? I suppose he recommended the bar to you."

He nodded. "Yeah. I haven't had the chance to visit until now." Raz looked over the menu and talked to Tifa here and there before ordering. She started to work on his order as Cloud brought over Raz's Corel wine, placing the bottle in front of him with a little too much force in Tifa's opinion. She turned around and gave Cloud a warning look as Denzel passed them both.

Raz looked at Denzel, then back at Tifa. "Your son?" he asked, completely ignoring Cloud's cold stare.

She looked down at Denzel as he went back to sweeping the floor, then back at Raz. "Yeah. His name is Denzel."

Raz's brows raised up just a moment. "Ah, he's Vits' friend." He looked up at Cloud after taking a sip of wine. "I heard you got them out of a spot of trouble one day?"

Cloud stiffly nodded before turning around and working on a few more simple drink orders Marlene had brought back to him. He didn't notice the smirk on the detective's face as he glanced at him.

Tifa finished Raz's order in silence, then turned around to walk over and give him his food. He had turned around in his seat, watching the crowd. She noticed his head moved slightly to watch Denzel as he wiped down a table. Raz turned his seat as he heard the ceramic of the plate gently clatter against the hard surface of the counter.

He picked up his fork and appraised his food. "Midgar cuisine with a Nibel area twist. I was certainly curious, to say the least." Raz nibbled on a bite of meat. "Holds up to the hype, I must say."

Tifa chuckled and blushed just a little from the praise. "I'm glad you enjoy it!"

She spoke to the detective here and there, finding him a likeable sort. Tifa noticed he would eye either Cloud or Denzel, and she wondered if he was worried about the same things she was; he was on the case with Evan and was maybe even told to be wary of Cloud. Or maybe he just watched people with blue eyes for any hint of that telltale mako glow. It would be nearly impossible to see Cloud's right now, however.

Eventually he left with a smile and a nod towards Cloud, and Tifa heard him hiss a sigh as he fumbled with the beer tap. "Cloud?" Was he worried about detectives coming to watch him?

He looked up as he finished filling a glass. "That guy feels _off_."

She put her hands on her hips. Of course he would think that. "What do you mean?"

Cloud handed the drink off to Marlene, then returned his gaze to Tifa. "He was watchin' Denzel."

Tifa frowned and shrugged her shoulders. "Raz is a detective, Cloud. Denzel was at the scene of a murder, why wouldn't he be a little curious about him?"

He made a face and narrowed his eyes before looking away. "He still feels kinda...shady."

She let the subject drop as business increased, though she remembered he had said the exact same thing about Eli before he was murdered. She couldn't help her mind continually going back to that throughout the evening, and it gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Cloud was quieter than usual the rest of the night, not saying a word as he escorted the last customer out and locking the door behind them. His eyes always flickered to Denzel with a strange look, his mouth a thin line and his brow down ever so. What was he thinking?

During dinner he looked at her as well, but it was an appraising, judgemental stare like the one he had earlier after her blunder. If only she could read his thoughts! It was only after they had finally retired to bed that some of those thoughts seeped forth, cryptic in purpose.

"I think I'm gonna stay around the bar instead of patrol," he said all of a sudden as he lay on his back.

The room returned to silence except for the whirling of the ceiling fan above them. Tifa turned her head and hoped her face didn't look too shocked. "What?"

He looked at her and blinked. "...I wanna make sure I can keep watch over Denzel. Something feels wrong..."

"Is that the only reason?"

Cloud's eyes studied her for a long few moments. "I'm just worried, Teef."

But worried about what exactly, she wondered. Worried she caught on, worried about the detective? What about Denzel, was he to be his next victim if he was the killer? If only she had more evidence one way or another! She quietly sighed and looked away. "I am, too."

His hand snaked towards her and squeezed gently. Her other hand balled into a fist and she bit her tongue. "I have to keep care of you guys first. If...if it gets worse, call up Barret. He can take Marlene and Denzel to Corel."

She nodded quietly. If he wasn't himself because of the Jenova inside of him, that had to be the real Cloud there. He would want them in Corel and not here. Unless he was just saying it soothe her nerves, and the mako really had pickled his brain

"Teef?"

Her breath shuddered. "Everything is just...it's too much right now."

Tifa felt him shift in bed, then his arm wrapped around her. She tried not to be as stiff as a board, and managed to bring her hand to land on the limb embracing her. He kissed her forehead and softly laid his head next to hers, their hair mingling together. "I know. I'll make this right, Tifa. I...I won't let anything happen to you guys." He squeezed her middle gently. "I promise," he whispered into her locks. "I didn't forget my promise."

She wanted to cry. "Cloud..."

He snuggled her some more, the same way he would when he tried to reassure after Meteorfall. Those first few weeks she had not been herself, depressed and thinking too deeply on the matter of the Sector Seven Plate Collapse Incident as they slept in an abandoned house with Barret and Marlene in another room. Right now she was not quite herself, mired in anxiety and dread and trying desperately to find out what was going on without proverbially pushing the wrong buttons on Cloud.

Tifa allowed herself to relax into his embrace. There was no point in resisting something that felt so good despite the person giving it feeling so wrong. At this moment she was safe, the children were safe, and tomorrow would come on it's own time. She would enjoy him right now. When was the last time she felt pleasure from his presence? She craved that feeling again, so badly.

If only this would all go away, she thought. Everything could go back to normal, and they could eventually forget anything happened at all. Maybe tomorrow wouldn't bring news of another child's death, and the week after wouldn't, and so on until it was just another bad memory in their lives. Cloud would go back to his deliveries, she would continue to tend the bar, and the children could play further out without her hair going grey from worry.

She held onto that and Cloud as she slowly fell asleep in his embrace.

* * *

 _Tifa wasn't sure where she had ended up this time as she walked about Edge, but she suddenly became aware that she was in a dark, dingy place. Large rectangular windows far above her on a second floor allowed the barest glow of light in, the windows a sickly, depressing yellow and the warehouse...yes, a warehouse that she found herself in barely illuminated at all. It was as if there was an overcast sky outside and it had muted the light of day._

 _Dust particles floated in and out of her vision as she looked around, the large space devoid of sound and filled with clutter. Tifa could barely make out filthy chains and various boxes littering the concrete floor. Hesitantly she walked towards one of the walls, trying to make out what hung from the metal railing of the second floor. There were more square shapes and a mound, and more chains held up on the wall._

 _The hanging thing was dripping, she could hear that much. It was a soft little splatter against the floor, and she looked down and noticed a small floor drain beneath it. The concrete here was dark. Black. Tifa almost wanted to touch the thing in front of her, but perhaps it was intuition that told her it was best not to. Or maybe it was the heavy smell._

 _Her eyes wandered to the wall beyond, the mound that may or may not be moving. She blinked and came a little closer. The top part moved and slowly two eerie, otherworldly blue eyes came into view. They stared into her with an alien gaze that almost hurt to look at. The outside of her vision became fuzzy then blackened and that silhouette was right in front of her, the eyes never leaving hers. Never blinking._

 _"won uoy gnihctaw," it said. The voice kept cutting out, static blurring the words._

 _Tifa took a step back. "Cloud?" Who else did she know with those eyes?_

 _"Evila mih niks mih tug txen si lezned"_

 _She still couldn't quite make out his face in the dark, despite the glow of his eyes. It was as if he was just a black shape with blue dots staring blankly from them. Dread was welling inside her as the dripping continued behind him. It sounded wetter now. God, what was that thing? Why did it smell like flesh and twisted metal and burning concrete?_

 _"Cloud. Wake up."_

 _"am I ekawa already emit ot finish detrats tahw"_

 _She bit her lip then clasped both shoulders of the Shadow Cloud. "Wake up! Cloud, Jenova is doing something to you, please!"_

 _Tifa was hanging from the wall by the rusty old chains that were bolted to it. She could see Cloud a bit better now with one of the windows behind her. She shook the chains pinning her arms behind her but they did not give, only rattled with her panic. The hanging mass was right behind him, swinging ever so slightly. She noticed stumpy limbs on it but not much else._

 _Cloud's eyes kept changing. blue, green, blue, green. His angular features and brow made him look ever more threatening as he glared up at her, her head not more than half a foot higher up than his. "You never stop, Tifa. Why wouldn't you ignore it?"_

 _"Cloud, please..." She sucked in a sharp inhale as his blade glided over her cheek, splitting the skin of her jaw like a bad paper cut at the last moment. "Wake up."_

 _"I wanted my family uninvolved. This wasn't your business. Now you're my business." His sword casually drifted downward, cutting her shirt and revealing that permanent memento from Sephiroth, that pale scar from the day the Masamune cut through flesh and bone._

 _"Don't let Jenova win-Ah!"_

 _Cloud was tracing that scar with his sword. It was always sensitive to touch, and he would feather his lips over it on occasion just so. Now he was gliding sharp metal over it as if contemplating whether to go deeper. A few beads of blood formed on the surface of the scar._

 _"Jenova guides me. She guides me towards humanity's salvation. They had to die. You didn't have to die. Not what I wanted, no no no no no..." His whispers were harsh and fast and aggressive. His sword trailed down to her navel. "No, no not there. Not there."_

 _She struggled a little more in her bindings. "No one else has to die, Cloud!"_

 _His eyes shifted green for a good long moment before going back to blue. Blank and blue and moving side to side. Then they looked up at her and he beamed. "That's right, you don't have to die. Jenova allows it. Mother is happy for us, Tifa. Can't you tell? No, not yet. Soon." He lowered his sword._

 _He began muttering again. "Yessss, be together. You remember when they were together, right, Tifa?" Something was off about his face, the way he stood; he twitched like an insect. "Remember? You remember all sorts of things, Tifa."_

 _She blinked a few times. "...They?"_

 _Cloud nodded. "The others. Mother took them, remember? She tried to make me come too, but I was being silly. They all came together, happy and inside Mother."_

 _Her heart skipped a beat and she shook her head ferociously. Not that. She didn't want to remember that. She didn't want to see their melting faces and the moans and the sound of rearranging flesh and bone  
_

 _His bare hand rubbed her abdomen sensually slow. "I want to be together with you...Then maybe we can be together with the kidssss..."_

 _"Cloud, please..." she whimpered._

 _He was still rubbing her, it felt strange. "Shhh. It won't hurt. It'll just be usssss and Mother." He kissed her stomach.  
_

 _Was his hand under her skin? She felt like she was unraveling from the inside out. Cloud didn't look like Cloud anymore. Cloud looked like a thing with blue dots staring back at her. It had a gaping hole for a mouth that muttered in an alien tongue that sounded like static from between the stars. Was that a wing on its back? God, it kept shifting...Or was she shifting? She could feel his mad thoughts in her head and a million ants crawled over the surface of her skin._

 _Betogetherasonewealljoinwithherhappyhappyhappyhappy_

 _Her head was buzzing and laughter entered her head. It was deep and malevolent, and it multiplied and grew as sick sounds came from her and what should be Cloud but wasn't as he pushed himself into her body through her chest. She gurgled black fluid and couldn't breathe, and the last thing she remembered in that nightmare place was the sensation of being twisted around and onto her side as her body was consumed by Jenova._


	9. Too Close to Home

**A/N:Thanks to kellyj17 for the beta!**

* * *

Tifa frantically pushed away from the limbs holding her as she laid on her side, Cloud's arms jolting in surprise as she retched herself out of his embrace and off of the bed. Her eyes were wild and panicked as she stared at Cloud, who only returned a surprised, worried look back.

"Tifa, what's wrong?" he asked in a husky, confused voice.

She had left before he could finish his query. Tifa felt dirty and the phantom crawling on her skin just wouldn't go away. Those eyes of his were creeping her out, and even his voice made her sick to her stomach. She ripped a towel from the hallway closet and locked herself into the bathroom, that barrier between her and _him_ flimsy but reassuring.

The water was hot, and it burned away the sensations that tried to wiggle and ooze their way into her in her nightmare. Her breath caught in her throat and she heaved out a quiet whimper as she leaned onto the wall of the shower, staring at the drain as water fell from the shower head.

Tifa let in a deep breath and slid down to the bottom of the shower. She tucked in her legs and covered her face with her knees as her waterlogged hair blocked out any light. She released her emotional frustrations and worries and cried, shuddering as the soothing sound of the shower continued to block out any sounds from beyond. A weak knock issued many minutes later, but she ignored it and it did not sound again.

Eventually she composed herself again and finished her shower, the lingering memories of that horrible nightmare still clinging to her thoughts like glue. No, Cloud couldn't do that. She hoped. She wanted to stop thinking most of all, though. Tifa studied herself in the mirror after wiping away the condensation, her frown greeting her sight. She looked haggard, her eyes bloodshot from disturbed sleep and crying. Dark circles lined underneath them, and her skin looked an unhealthy shade.

She dried herself off and wrapped the towel around her body; she had not gotten a pair of fresh clothing before fleeing the bedroom. Tifa hesitated as she stared at the doorknob. She didn't want to see Cloud right now, and knowing him, he could be waiting right outside the door. But, she couldn't hide in here all day. She finally unlocked it and opened up into the slightly cooler hallway.

No one was there.

She looked towards the bedroom and saw no eyes watching her. Turning her head, she looked towards the stairwell and noticed the lights were on in the kitchen area. A whiff of coffee came to her nose and she let out the breath she was holding. She hurried to the bedroom, just in case she had accidentally woken either of the children and they had mustered up the curiosity to see what was going on.

Tifa turned on a light after shutting the door and she glanced at the clock; it was a little past five now. No more time to sleep, she reasoned. She took her time dressing to delay the inevitable talk with Cloud-not that she would say what she dreamed about. A voice in her head told her she should just come out and tell him her suspicions, but she just couldn't. Could she?

He was waiting at the table with a mug nestled in his hands, another mug of coffee waiting for her on the other side of the table. Tifa hesitated, then cautiously sat across from Cloud as she eyed him like a predator ready to pounce.

He said nothing but continued to sip from his mug. His eyes would meet hers on occasion, but they were only filled with worry. She knew he wanted to ask if she was alright, if she wanted to talk about her nightmare that had her spooked so badly. Something he wanted to say, but couldn't...

"I'm fine, Cloud. It was just a bad dream."

Cloud sighed into his mug. "Tifa, please...If something is wrong, tell me. You shouldn't be like this, scared and worried all the time."

She tapped the tabletop with the tips of her nails, her shoulders tight with tension. "I-"

"Hey, is everything okay?" It was Denzel. He walked towards them as he rubbed a bleary eye.

Cloud eyed him, and Tifa tensed. She turned to Denzel and nodded. "Yeah, sweetie. Did we wake you up?"

He shook his head. "I had a weird dream and I can't get back to sleep." Denzel looked at their mugs. "Could I have some?"

Cloud nodded and stood up to walk to the cabinet to fish out a mug. Denzel would drink coffee a little here and there. He was old enough to have it and not bounce off the walls. Cloud poured him a cup and let Denzel fix it up as he liked before sitting down at the table again.

Eventually Marlene joined them and Tifa began working on an early breakfast, mostly just to keep from having to talk. It was a tense meal between the two adults, and she refused to make eye contact with Cloud. He didn't speak, but he eyed Denzel here and there. She noticed that immediately. Was Denzel next? But she couldn't go to the authorities; there was no proof if it was him.

Barret. She would call Barret.

"Marlene, Denzel...I-I think it would be best if you two visited Corel."

She felt three sets of eyes on her. "When?" Marlene asked.

Tifa sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. "Today." She opened her eyes again. The two children had their mouths slightly open out of surprise from the sudden plans.

"But I had plans with Jared!" Denzel groused.

Cloud put a hand on Denzel's shoulder. "Tifa's right. Until we catch the murderer, neither of us want you two in danger's way."

Tifa's eye twitched. Oh, how she could scream. "I know it's sudden, but Edge isn't safe right now."

After breakfast she went to call up Barret as Cloud went to his office. She glanced upwards towards the room before looking towards the wall in front of her, waiting for Barret to pick up.

"Mornin', Tifa. Everyone alright? " It was a little past six, and Barret sounded a little groggy.

"Morning, Barret...Ah, I was wondering if you could take the kids to Corel...today," she said hesitantly. She swayed a little and bit her lip.

She heard him sniffle. He was probably rubbing his eyes with the fingers on his good hand. "Today? Why so sudden?"

"You heard about the serial killer, right?" Tifa heard him grunt in the affirmative. "Well, who ever it is has been killing the children of former Shinra employees."

"Oh. Well, Marlene's safe then...But what about...?"

"Denzel's one," Tifa said.

"Shit. Look, I'll try'n be there by the afternoon. My truck ain't as fast as Spiky's bike." There was a pause. "He on the case, right?"

Tifa took in a sharp inhale of air. "He's patrolled a little."

Barret grunted. "Maybe he'll find the son of a bitch. Awright, I'm gonna get myself ready. I'll see ya all soon. Keep an eye on the kids, Tifa."

They said their good byes and hung up. She felt some relief from the phone call; at the very least the children would be far away from this madness. Tifa went about cleaning the dishes before deciding to clean the bar. It didn't need it, but she felt she needed to stay busy.

Occasionally she would hear pacing from the office, and she went upstairs to spy on him through the window in the door. Cloud was staring at his desk, his hands behind his back. He was rubbing the thumb of one hand with the fingers of the other; his nerves must be shot, she thought. What if he finally snapped? She walked away before he had a chance to turn around.

The children were in their rooms, packing their suitcases. Tifa helped Marlene pick out her clothing and a few dolls and books she wanted to bring with her to Corel. Afterwards Tifa knocked on Denzel's door and entered after receiving a muffled and sullen "come in".

His suitcase was almost full, a few books resting on top of his clothing. His music player was laying by it. She looked at Denzel and gave him a tentative smile. "Do you have everything you wanted to bring?"

He nodded. "Tifa, how long do we have to stay in Corel?"

She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. "Until we catch whoever is doing this. I know this is sudden, Denzel. But...Cloud and I...want you two far away from here."

He looked down at his suitcase and nodded quietly. Then he looked back up. "After this is all over, could we go on a trip together before school?"

Tifa swallowed hard and blinked a few times. "S-sure, sweetie." That sick feeling in the pit of her stomach welled up again.

She went back to the bar to think and soon Cloud came downstairs, dressed and his hair a little damp. He eyed her with concern, then motioned with his head towards the garage. "I think I'm gonna give Fenrir a tune up. If you need anything I'll be in the garage."

Tifa nodded. "Okay."

Eventually she opened the bar and a few moments later Evan showed up. She motioned him towards his usual stool and he sat down, nervously looking about before asking for his usual. Tifa fixed up a cup of tea and brought it over to Evan, her body language revealing the tension she felt all morning.

"So..." she began trepidatiously before turning to cook his food.

"It was bad, Tifa," he said quietly. "That kid was flayed alive."

Tifa put a hand to her mouth as she looked back. "No witnesses?"

"One. They only saw glowing blue eyes. It was five blocks to the south of here."

She scrunched up her brows. Cloud would have been out 'patrolling' right before he came home for lunch. She motioned towards the garage. "What about him?" she mouthed.

"Seen a few blocks west of the scene," Evan mouthed back slowly. "Time does not match, I think."

She pursed her lips, then went back to cooking. After resting the plate in front of Evan she decided to change the subject with Cloud so close by. He may have already heard too much, if he wasn't focusing on his bike. "So, an associate of yours visited yesterday."

Evan raised his brows. "Oh?"

"Raz. He came in for dinner."

The detective nodded. "Yeah, he asked about your bar and I put in a good word about your cooking. I guess he couldn't wait." He began eating his meal.

Tifa chuckled, though it was a little strained. "He didn't say much about himself, just that he's working on the case with you."

"Apparently he used to work for Shinra a long time ago, but he never brought up what he did. He always came off as a Turk to me," Evan said before eating again.

Denzel came downstairs a few moments later. "Tifa, is it alright if I went to the store and got us some snacks before we leave?"

She looked at the door to the garage, then back at Denzel and nodded. A trip to the store wouldn't be dangerous. "Come back soon."

He nodded and walked out the front door. Evan looked back as he left, then looked at Tifa. "Leaving?"

Tifa nodded. "We're taking the children to Corel until the killer is caught. Denzel is in just...too much danger."

Evan eyed the garage door, then looked back at Tifa. "I see."

He finished his meal a little while after and left after telling Tifa he would keep in contact, and asking her to stay safe.

She waved after him, then sighed. It was still ambiguous. Cloud was spotted blocks away from the scene. Maybe, maybe it wasn't him. No one heard the rumble of a motorcycle, so that was promising. Tifa turned around, only to bump into Cloud's chest.

"So...the suspect has...eyes like mine," he said quietly in a tense voice. He was staring into her eyes.

Tifa gulped, then nodded. She didn't know what to say. Cloud had been listening to their conversation.

He ran a hand through his hair and nodded back, looking away. "Well, that...that's useful information. I...have something to go on now." He looked back. "I heard Denzel. He went out?"

"Y-yeah. He wanted to buy some snacks before they left," she said as she fidgeted with her fingers.

"I see. I'm gonna finish working on Fenrir, then." Cloud disappeared back into the garage, closing the door behind him.

She stared at the door until a customer interrupted her, and she put her focus on the bar instead. The look Cloud had given her kept returning to her mind every time she glanced at the door to the garage. It was knowing, like he was on to her. But the look she had gotten after she had answered his inquiry about Denzel...

His eyes had widened just the slightest bit, and something behind them almost seemed to come to life. Tifa frowned as she thought more; she hadn't heard his bike nor him since he went to the garage. She looked at the clock; it had been over an hour since Denzel had left-

She poked her head into the garage. Cloud wasn't there.

Her mouth went dry. Then she heard the sirens.

* * *

Denzel took this or that snack off the shelf of the shop he often visited with Cloud on his days off. He wanted to get a few favorites of his and Marlene's so they had something enjoyable to eat on the long trek to Corel. He wasn't happy that they were going on such short notice, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

It wasn't like visiting Corel wasn't fun.

Sure, the Golden Saucer wasn't opened but they had a huge chocobo track and Barret knew enough people there that they would let he and Marlene pet the chocobos. Or they would go hiking or riding on the mountains, or play with some of the local kids.

Denzel plopped down his trove of snacks and paid for them before taking his bag home with him. He felt he might have taken too long as it was and Tifa was probably fretting over him, he thought. The sky was overcast but not threatening rain. It was just some outer cloud cover from a storm afflicting Bone Village, or so the radio had said.

He looked towards an alleyway and decided that it would be faster to take it than the main road through the Plaza. He jogged towards it and entered, the alley cooler and darker than the streets behind him. Denzel looked about, then took a left at the nearest intersection into an abandoned side street.

After a few moments he felt like he was being followed, and he quickened his pace. As much as he wanted to stay at Seventh Heaven, he had been wary since the incident with the head, wondering every so often if the killer knew Denzel had disturbed his spot. Cloud always picked up on it, it seemed. He would give Denzel a squeeze of the shoulder, silently promising to keep him and the rest of the family safe.

He really didn't understand why Tifa looked at Cloud the way she did. They both looked tired and worried, but she always looked at Cloud like he was ready to explode or something. Maybe he was, it must be hard to search for a murderer in a city full of people, Denzel thought. Especially with no clues to who it was.

Denzel was jolted out of his thoughts by hands grabbing his shoulders. He twisted around with a shout while holding his bag in front of him, then groaned. "Jared! Don't do that!"

The red head grinned and put his hands on his hips. "Serves you right for not showin' up!"

Denzel shook his head and moved his brown, wavy bangs out of his eyes. "Sorry, but Cloud and Tifa are making us leave the city this afternoon. I've been preparing all morning."

Jared's face fell. "Oh. It's because of that serial killer, huh?" He received a nod in reply. "Well I mean, he hasn't struck this neighborhood yet...Maybe they're overreacting."

Denzel gave an uncertain shrug. "Dunno. But I'm on my way home before Tifa freaks out, I might be a little late as it is."

"You don't mind if I join you?"

Denzel nodded with a small smile. "Sure."

The two began making their way through the side street, then down another alley and then another as they talked a little here and there before descending into silence. It felt reassuring to not be alone in the dark, lonesome back streets. Denzel looked ahead as he focused on the sound of his footfalls and the thoughts looming in his head; they were maybe two more streets from the bar.

"We're getting close, Jared. Maybe we could have lunch together?"

There was no response. Denzel stopped and turned around, his eyes darting this way and that. Where did Jared go? He retraced his steps slowly. There was a sound, like a foot coming down on the pavement behind a dumpster that rested near the corner of a building.

He walked towards it. It was probably Jared trying to spook him again. Denzel rolled his eyes as he approached. "This isn't funny."

Denzel popped his head past the corner of the dumpster and looked around. No one was there. He brought his head down to think and he shouted as Jared came into view.

His arm was limply laying on the street, his body hidden by the building. Denzel hesitated. Was it a joke or not? No, no it wasn't. He was too still. Taking in a deep breath he walked closer and then poked his head into the even darker dead end alley his friend was laying in. If Jared was alive he would get him out of here, to hell with the murderer on the loose. If he could face a dragon he could face a sicko.

Some one had twisted Jared's neck to an unnatural angle and dumped him here. Denzel's breath hitched in his throat. What did Cloud say? Always be aware of your surroundings? His deep blue eyes darted around for any sign of the attacker as he pulled on Jared's shoulder in some futile, emotional gesture to leave with his dead friend. His eyes locked on something in the darkness, and he froze.

Two glowing, blue eyes watched back in the shadows.

No, that wasn't Cloud. This was a stranger. Denzel saw the blue eyes come closer, a pale face forming as they pulled away from the shadows. His mind registered that he was being pursued, and he turned around and ran. He heard footsteps behind him, quick and hard. He had to go faster.

He had to get to Cloud and Tifa, they would protect him. He couldn't save Jared but they could stop this madman. Denzel picked up his pace as he came closer to home, home was so so so close, in his grasp-

A hand grasped the collar of his shirt and yanked him backwards, then he was suddenly twisted and pushed onto his back. Denzel thrashed about as he quickly rolled and came to a crouch, only to be promptly hit in the side of the head hard enough to knock him down again; the force knocked him out. The last thing he heard before that punch was the sound of footfalls approaching.


	10. Revelation

**A/N: Thanks again to kelleyj17 for her betaing!**

* * *

Tifa barged out of the front door and towards the sounds of the sirens. They were close, too close to the bar, and Denzel wasn't home and _Cloud was not in the garage._ She followed the sounds down the street, and she almost didn't stop when she heard Evan shouting behind her.

"Tifa!"

She looked back but did not stop running. He was catching up to her, and she motioned with her hand to hurry up. He caught up with her after a few moments and huffed while keeping pace with her. "It's one more street over, to the left!"

Tifa nodded and began to follow his slight lead. "What happened?"

"Two kids, witness called it in. Dunno anything else."

Two children. Was one of them Denzel? Was he murdered? Did Cloud do it? Those questions fueled her approach to the crime scene. As they took a left the lights of an ambulance and one of Edge's makeshift police cruisers came into view.

They ran up to the vehicles, and as they stopped near them Cloud came into view from behind the ambulance, arms crossed and a stubborn frown on his face. He looked towards the two, and his face showed his surprise. "Tifa!"

"Cloud, what's going on?" she demanded. He wasn't being arrested? How did he know where Denzel was, if he wasn't the attacker?

A stretcher with a white sheet covering a lump on it left the alley behind Cloud, and Tifa gasped. Cloud looked behind him, then looked back at Tifa with a pained expression. "I was too late...Denzel's friend..." He looked away.

She put a hand up to her bottom lip. "Denzel's friend?"

Cloud looked back up. "Yeah. Jared. I got to Denzel in time, though." He pointed at the back of the ambulance. "He's not talkin', though."

Tifa walked with hesitant steps towards Cloud, Evan following close behind. Denzel was sitting in the back of the ambulance, eyes downcast. He had gauze on his head and a hyphena in one of his eyes. Cloud rubbed his shoulder tenderly, and he looked up at the adults. "I had a Phoenix Down on me, so I used it to get him to come to while I called the cops. Hey, buddy...We'll get you fixed up, okay?"

Denzel blinked, then nodded once before looking down again.

Tifa shared a look of surprise with Evan before looking at Cloud again. He was focused on Denzel. Oddly, he didn't have any of his swords with him. "I guess we'll have to postpone the Corel trip-"

"No." Cloud looked Tifa in the eyes. "He's going to Corel."

Evan tipped his hat back a little while eyeing Denzel. "He's hurt, Cloud."

"There's potions and materia at the bar that'll fix him up faster than a stay at the hospital. That psycho is still out there."

"You saw who it was?" Evan asked.

Cloud tensed and huffed through his nose. "...It was Rui."

Tifa bit her lip. But he lied about what Rui looked like, unless Rui was disguising himself. Maybe that really was it. She glanced at Evan, and he seemed just as unsure as she was.

"Tifa, Denzel should be able to make it back with you to the bar. Just...Just wait for Barret to get there."

"It's rather odd you don't want to take your son to the hospital." Raz appeared from behind the front of the ambulance, sunglasses similar to Cloud's covering his eyes as he looked at the three adults in turn. "He'll need to go in for questioning, too."

Evan raised a brow. "I don't think he'll be ready for that for at least a couple of days."

Cloud shook his head as he glanced at Evan. "He's not going to either the hospital or the police station. It's too dangerous."

Raz scoffed as he rubbed one of his shoulders. "It's probably safer than any other place you could think of taking the poor boy."

Cloud snapped his head towards Raz and glowered at him. "Shut the hell up and stay out of our business."

Evan fidgeted. "This is kinda becoming our business right now..."

"Let me guess, I have to go in for questioning?" Cloud received a curt nod for a reply. He pursed his lips and looked down at Denzel, then looked up at Evan. "Fine. Denzel is going with Tifa, though."

Raz took a step forward and pointed at him. "His testimony is needed. He's not leaving Edge."

Evan raised both hands in an effort to calm the situation. "We can get it later, Raz." He looked back at Tifa. "I'm sure we can get him to talk over the phone in a few days."

Tifa quietly nodded before Evan looked back at Raz. Raz's jaw was tensed and he was looking at both Cloud and Denzel. He hissed an inhale of air through his teeth before turning around. "Whatever."

Cloud picked up Denzel carefully and brought him over to Tifa. The boy sniffled and Cloud tensed his jaw, his eyes filled with guilt and that simmering anger that rarely reared its ugly head; even when he was in one of his jealous bouts in the bar, it was extremely rare to see it quite like this.

Cloud handed Denzel to Tifa, then rubbed her cheek while they were still close. She stiffened a little, but he hadn't noticed. "I'll be back as soon as I can, Teef. Tell Barret I said hello."

Tifa nodded. "...I'll be waiting."

He gave her a tentative smile, the anger in his eyes dissipating before he looked down at Denzel. "Try and have some fun in Corel, Denzel. When you get back, Edge'll be safe again."

Denzel nodded, and Cloud gently squeezed his hand before he turned back to walk up to Evan. The detective looked at Tifa, nodded, then motioned to Cloud towards the police cruiser. Tifa sighed as she watched Cloud hop into the back of the cruiser, then she turned around to go home. Marlene would be worried sick, she thought.

She had left the bar open after yelling for Marlene to watch the front.

"Let's get you fixed up, Denzel," she said as she looked down at him. He was shaking like a leaf in the breeze, and she held him closer. She looked down the street again. "I'll keep you safe until Barret picks you up."

She reached the bar and fumbled the door open. The few customers present looked at her with mild surprise, but said nothing; they had their answer to why she had run out of the bar now. Marlene was behind the counter, serving drinks and a few meals she had been taught to prepare, like cold cut sandwiches.

Marlene looked up from the beer tap and gasped, then walked up to Tifa as she came behind the counter with Denzel in her arms. "Tifa, what happened?"

"...Something very bad, but...Cloud...stopped it," she said hesitantly. What would he tell the police and detectives? Evan said he hadn't told them about Cloud yet, but Raz seemed suspicious. "I'll be downstairs after I fix up Denzel, alright, sweetie?"

Marlene nodded. "I think I'll be fine for a while. The customers aren't upset."

"That's good to hear. Yell if you need me." Tifa walked up the steps to Denzel's room and placed him down on his bed, his feet grazing the back of his suitcase. She looked at it, then Denzel; she supposed she would make them some sandwiches for the trip since it looked like his sack of snacks were forgotten. That was, if he had made it to the shop in the first place.

She thought a moment then remembered the materia in Cloud's office. Tifa went to fetch it, but to her mild surprise the orb was no longer there. She stared at the inside of the drawer for a moment, then went downstairs to the medicine cabinet. They kept all their potions and cures that either Cloud found on his travels or customers gave in exchange for food and drink if they didn't have the gil.

She opened it up and rummaged around. Her fingers fell onto a bottle of X-potion, one of the rarer potions that Cloud would occasionally bring back home. They sometimes sold them to the stores if there were too many and neither of them needed them often, so she grabbed it up and went back up and into his room.

Tifa sat Denzel up and put the potion to his lips. "Drink this Denzel...I know it doesn't taste good, but you'll feel a lot better."

Weakly he parted his lips to allow the magenta liquid to run into his mouth. He began to make a face, but continued to drink it. She felt it fortunate he didn't spit it up; potions could be used externally or internally, but in his case it would be best to drink it to heal up any injuries unseen. He probably had a concussion, and if she hadn't had such a powerful potion or a strong materia she would have had to take him to the new hospital built last year in the middle of the city.

"Feel better now?" she asked as the last rivulet of potion trickled over his tongue. Denzel swallowed several times while rubbing his tongue over the roof of his mouth. He then nodded as he propped himself up on the bed.

He still didn't say anything.

Tifa placed her palm on his jaw and tilted his head up to look into his eyes. The dazed look was slowly disappearing, but he still looked traumatized. "It's okay, Denzel. You don't have to talk. Just rest until Barret gets here, okay?"

He nodded, then laid down with a sniffle. Tifa petted his head and kissed his forehead before leaving to help Marlene downstairs. All the while she wondered in her head, what had he seen? Did he see his friend murdered? Did he see who did it? He hadn't seemed afraid of Cloud at all, so either it wasn't him or Denzel didn't see.

"So what happened?" Marlene asked as the bar began to empty of lunch time customers.

Tifa sighed through her nose as she cleaned a glass. "The killer struck again," she said quietly.

Marlene's eyes grew wide as she took the glass from Tifa to dry it. "They tried to kill Denzel?"

"Yeah. They got his friend, Jared. They almost got Denzel, too, but I guess Cloud got there in time." Or maybe he came to in time. Everything was so strange.

The little girl crinkled her brow. "Jared's dead?" She looked down after putting the glass away. "I didn't know him that well, but..."

Tifa rubbed her back. "I know, sweetie. We're gonna help find who did this while you two are away."

They continued to clean dishes in silence, the squeak of the ceiling fans or the clink of dishes punctuating the silence. Soon a rumble came down the street and stopped in front of the bar. Marlene and Tifa looked back expectantly; a few moments later and Barret opened the door. He had a deep frown on his face that turned into a beaming smile as his eyes locked on to Marlene's, and she run out to hug him.

"Papa!"

He hugged her tight and picked her up. "Marlene! You been a good girl for Cloud an' Tifa?"

She nodded. Tifa walked up to them as they had their little reunion, her hands behind her back. Barret looked at her after another moment of hugs, and his frown came back as he saw the look on her face. "Where's Denzel?"

"Upstairs. The killer tried to get him while he was getting snacks for the trip to Corel. Cloud...saved him, though." She squeezed her fists, still behind her back.

Barret gave her a piercing look; he could tell something wasn't quite right. "Where's Spiky?"

"They took him in for questioning. I'm not sure when he'll be back." She twirled a lock of hair on her index finger. "Oh, he said to tell you hello."

He grunted. "Hope he don't smart off to them too much or they gonna make his life a livin' hell."

Tifa rolled her eyes. "He's dry but under the circumstances I don't think he'll want to do that."

Barret raised a brow. "Under the circumstances?"

Her eyes widened and she blushed. "W-well, he was the only one at the crime scene and they have no suspects."

"You tellin' me he lost the son of a bitch? If that was me an' Marlene I'd've shot the sucka down!"

Tifa groaned and rubbed her face with her hands. "He didn't have his swords on him. Or a gun arm, Barret."

Barret stood there, frowning and his eyes flickering back and forth as he thought. He looked at Tifa again. "You tell him I said he better keep his damn swords on him next time!"

"I'll relay the message..."

Tifa quickly made some sandwiches as Barret went upstairs to collect the children's suitcases. She wondered when Denzel would finally start talking again, and if his testimony would even be needed. Cloud demanded that Denzel should go to Corel; she wondered if there were any ulterior motives or if it was really him trying to prevent tragedy. Maybe he was saving him for last...

"You gonna tear a hole in that slice of bread, Tifa," Barret said from behind her.

She jumped and jabbed the knife into the bread, then she tsked. "Thanks for the warning," came her sarcastic reply.

Tifa finished the sandwiches and put them in a brown bag that she carried out to the truck. Marlene was sitting between Barret and Denzel, who had a faraway look in his eye. He was still trying to process everything, Tifa realized.

She handed the bag to Marlene. "There's a couple for you too, Barret."

He smiled back at her. "Thanks Tifa. I'll call up when we get there!"

Her smile was faint, but genuine. "Stay safe." She looked at the two children. "Cloud and I love you...have a good time, guys."

She waved as the truck slowly took off, her heart heavy. How long would they have to be in Corel? They were supposed to go after Cloud's birthday, and then he and she would have had time to themselves. Tifa sighed heavily, thinking of the day at the beach Cloud wanted to have with her. It felt like it was so long ago now, when Cloud was just Cloud and this shadow of him that could be a serial killer was non-existent.

Tifa headed back into the bar and closed up after another hour or two. There were just a few customers and she was feeling far too anxious for small talk with them right now. She rested her jaw on her hand as she sat at the counter, thinking.

What would the detectives discover? She hoped from the bottom of her heart that they would find him completely innocent. Tifa just wanted her Cloud back, their lives back. She wanted those haunted, sometimes cocky blue eyes to glow contentedly back at her in the dark. She wanted the feel of his skin without the desire to recoil from his touch. She wanted the man that could defeat Sephiroth three times over but could barely cook an egg.

Her cellphone rang an hour later as she cleaned the kitchen, and as she stood from her crouch she noticed it was from Cloud. Her heart found its way into her throat. "C-Cloud?"

"Hey." He sighed a little into his receiver before his quiet voice continued. "They finally let me go."

She blinked. "What happened?"

"They grilled me. It was mostly Raz trying to get me. 'Why do you have all these weird items? Why do you have potions?'" Cloud's voice was mocking. "I told him that unlike _him_ , I have a job that can be dangerous sometimes."

Oh, so he did smart off. But they let him go? "You're lucky they didn't keep you longer."

He snorted. "Not like I had anything else to tell them...Look, after the bar is closed I'll...tell you what happened."

She looked about the bar. "I closed it for the evening."

"Oh, well...how about I get some takeout for dinner? You deserve it. Is Wutaian alright?"

Tifa momentarily raised her brows. She hadn't had Wutaian takeout in a while, and the unease towards Cloud she had felt for who knows how long began to lift. Denzel hadn't freaked out at Cloud's presence, and the police let him go; there was more to this than she knew. "That'd be nice. Thank you, Cloud."

She could hear his smile. "No problem. I'll be home as soon as I can, Teef. Then we can catch up on everything."

"Alright. I'll be waiting!"

They said good bye and she hung up. She stared at the phone for a few moments before putting it in her pocket. So, there wasn't any evidence to link him to Rui, besides the business slips. Rui Coltsfeld...No record of a man with that name at all. Tifa took her notebook out from under the till, and placed it on the counter. She opened it to a fresh page and took out her pen.

She wrote the name out. RUI COLTSFELD

 _'Maybe it's an anagram?'_ That could be it. She took out the newspaper from under the till; she sometimes kept it in case a customer wanted to talk about the local news. Tifa looked through the names of criminals and just people in general that could fit the anagram, scribbling them here and there. A few came close as the minutes passed, but they weren't quite right.

She stared at the name, tapping her pen on the counter. Her eyes glanced at the door before returning to the paper. She remembered that dream she had, the names meshed together...

 _"I am Rui am Cloud Rui Strife Cloud Coltsfeld."_

Tifa bit her lip as dread pooled in her gut. No, they let him go. Denzel wasn't afraid. She wrote Cloud's name down below Rui Coltsfeld's and started to line up the letters.

RUI COLTSFELD

CLOUD STRIFE

There was only one extra L. She stared at the two names. He really was Rui. He deliberately gave himself an alter-ego on paper so he could murder and pin it on a fake name! _'He said Rui attacked Denzel...'_

He attacked Denzel, which meant someone else stopped him somehow. Maybe they were dead, maybe he had to feign concern as interest grew on his location...

Why didn't Denzel react to him? Was it because he was knocked out?

She entered the garage and immediately went to Cloud's work table. There were materia loose on the surface, resting against a sackcloth. Tifa stretched out a shaking hand and touched them. Seal, Manipulate, Transform, Exit, Time...

Seal could have put a victim to sleep, or silenced their screams. That's why no one heard Millary. Maybe even Harran at one point. Manipulate and Transform could have gotten Cloud into a house or a shop without forcing his way in, or perhaps Galenn was minied and put to sleep before Cloud spirited her away to the ruins. Time could have been used to keep someone from moving, or so he could move quicker. Exit would make sure no one saw him leave...

"Oh, God..."

She heard the door to the bar open up and Cloud's familiar footfalls crossing the bar quickly, too quickly. "Teef? I'm home," he called out.

She bolted out of the garage. He couldn't see the notebook. No, she would put it away before it got his attention, and she could go to Evan in the morning. God, it hurt to think about it, the things he did to people for whatever sick reason!

As she barged into the bar she noticed he had his free hand twirling the notebook towards him as he placed the bag of takeout on the corner before coming behind the counter. His eyes glanced over it, then they looked towards her. His mouth was a thin line and his eyes dropped any pretense of warmth.

"So." Cloud's voice was deadly serious. "This is why you've been acting so strange." He walked towards her, slowly. "You suspected me for a while..."

She took a step back, staring at those sterile blue eyes. Cloud was fast, powerful, deadly. But he was too relaxed, too confident. He approached her and she immediately shoved him back, then used her leg to trip him to the ground. The notebook flew out of his hand and onto the floor next to Cloud as he started to get up from the ground. She grabbed a pan hanging from the wall and flung it at him, hitting Cloud's forehead as he moved his head upward. He groaned as his head hit the floor, but she knew he would recover from the attack quickly.

Tifa charged into the garage and squeezed through the automatic sliding door as it churned open. She heard Cloud call her from the garage door, then boots on concrete after she began running down the dark street. She had a running start.

"Tifa!"


	11. Run For Your Life

**Thanks again to kelleyj17 for betaing!**

* * *

Tifa looked back as she ran, and was greeted to darkness but for the yellow glow of the garage lights that dimly lit the alley in front of the open door. Where was Cloud? She turned her head again to keep herself from running into anything. Again she turned her head back to track her pursuer.

A silhouette sprinted from the light, and two blue pinpricks of light appeared.

Cloud had completely lost it. She looked ahead and turned onto a road that lead to the Plaza. It would give her a chance to lose him and maybe she could get to the police station. But if he was unhinged would he go on a murder spree in an attempt to get her? Tifa dodged into an alley. She would lose him through the road system.

She wondered if there was a place she could hide until reality caught up with him and he decided to flee the city, or until morning when she had a better chance at sneaking into Evan's agency...

What if Cloud murdered him and his family for being involved? What if he went after Evan if he couldn't get her? She would have to call Evan up after Cloud lost her; she didn't want to hear about him being slaughtered by a rampaging serial killer.

"Wait!" He was right behind her; he must have used the Time materia to catch up with her.

She braced herself for an attack. Tifa leapt onto the wall next to her and pushed herself upward, twisted about and landed the ball of her foot onto the back of Cloud's head. He stumbled forward, and she landed and headed in the opposite direction before he could turn around and run after her again.

 _ **"Sleep!"**_

Tifa felt the tingle of the spell envelop her, but nothing else happened. She looked down at her arm and stared at the ribbon she wore every day. He was going to sleep her like one of his victims and take her to some hidden place to be tortured before finally putting an end to it all.

She heard him shuffling behind her as she continued to flee. "Shit!" he hissed. His footfalls began to follow her again.

Her legs pumped faster, harder. She sprinted onto another road before he could get any closer. If Cloud had been an ordinary human he would have still been down on the floor of the bar with a concussion at the very least and possibly dead at worst. But he wasn't ordinary, and despite her loathing of cowardly fleeing there was no one to protect but herself, and Zangan always said that when facing against overwhelming odds it was best to live another day.

Oh, if only she had heeded that knowledge more often in the past.

His footsteps were in her ears again, closing in on her. She tensed after measuring where he was by the sound of his boots. She knew if she turned around right now those icy blue eyes would be burning a hole into her soul. Tifa sucked in a breath of air, took a step closer to the wall, then grabbed Cloud's arm as it reached out for her as she turned on her heel.

She used her momentum to throw him into the trashcans that she had passed seconds before, and then she was off again. It still hurt having to do that to Cloud, but right now she had to survive and he would recover from it as it was. There was the clattering of hollow metal and his pained groan, then the noise of the cans shifting about as he picked himself up.

Tifa went through another alley, then another with a quick turn. If she was fast enough he would have to guess which path she took. There was barely any light save for a dim streetlamp at the ends of the short alleys that assisted her vision. She didn't hear Cloud, and that alarmed her; he could have lost her, or he was watching from some unseen spot, waiting to attack again.

She turned onto a dilapidated looking street with ugly abandoned shops and warehouses. This might be a place she could hide, she thought to herself. There were plenty of places to hide if she could get into any of them, and he would have to either try to find her in here or assume she ran off again. A gamble, but she couldn't run forever.

She sprinted off and when she was at the middle of the street she tried the doors of several shops, but they were locked. Desperately she tried one last door before she would have to run off again; it thankfully creaked open. Tifa looked the way she came, saw no blue dots, then hurried inside.

It had been a simple shop from what she could tell with the near absolute darkness. The light from the door allowed her enough vision to make out debris and stairs leading to what she assumed was the living area above the abandoned shop.

She climbed the dark stairs and opened the door as quietly as she could. Tifa immediately noticed the windows on one side that allowed for the light of the streetlamps to illuminate the living space. A door led to a bedroom, and it had another door that led to a dark bathroom. She hid within, keeping still and watching and listening through the small crack in the door.

The minutes passed and her mind began to run. How could Cloud of all people have done such things? Why? It was so very unlike him. His eyes had never changed color like a facade melting away, and he hadn't been acting that particularly weird lately until the children murders began. Maybe he really was a psychopath?

No, a psychopath wouldn't have done the selfless things he had done in the past. It had to be the mako, it finally got to his brain. The thought made her feel a horrible woe; Cloud never had a chance after what Hojo had done to him. He had just been a ticking time-bomb, a victim who created other victims. It wasn't a fate he deserved.

She jumped as a ringing sound issued from her pocket. Tifa cursed under her breath as she pulled her cellphone out and muted it. She looked at who was calling her, and her blood froze in her veins.

It was Cloud.

She chewed her lip. He must have lost her if he was going to try to talk to her. Tifa listened for any noises outside just in case, then clicked accept.

"Tifa!"

She heaved a shaky sigh into the receiver. "Cloud, please just stop this..." she whispered in a wary voice.

"Teef. I-I have a lot of things I need to tell you about."

She snorted weakly in disbelief. "I bet you do. That's why you tried to sleep me, right? Because you have things to tell me about?"

There was a pause. "You wouldn't calm down," he said quietly.

A flicker of anger crossed her heart. "Calm down?" she hissed. "I find out you were the one who tried to kill Denzel, and you want me to calm down?"

"No, I did not!" His voice was much more firm and offended.

"Do you think I'm stupid, Cloud? Just because I...I trusted you." She squeezed her fist. "I held out hope you weren't doing these things."

"I don't think you're stupid...Please, can we just talk?" he pleaded.

"We're talking."

A short blow of air sounded in the receiver. "Face to face. Please."

She couldn't help but shudder. "No. No, I don't think that would be a good idea."

"I promise I'm not going to hurt you, Tifa. I wouldn't do that in the first place."

Tifa sighed and leaned her shoulder on the wall. Of course he'd use promises. The Cloud she knew was loathe to break them, but the Cloud she knew also didn't do what he had been doing. "I can't trust you as much as I wish I could, Cloud. Not anymore."

"I know things...look bad, but it's not quite what you think it is," he argued.

Her chuckle was bitter and humorless. "I don't know what you expect me to think when-"

She heard the dull sound of glass being crunched underfoot, and she stopped breathing as she took the phone from her ear. That sound came from the phone and below her. She strained to hear, and another tentative step, slow and quiet despite being almost inaudible came to her ear.

"Tifa?" came Cloud's whispered voice from her phone and right below her.

He was using her voice to pinpoint where she was.

She brought the phone up to her mouth. "Bastard," she hissed between clenched teeth before tossing the phone behind her. Tifa left the bathroom and heard footsteps quickly making their way up the stairs. She looked at the window in front of her, charged towards it and tried to open it.

A door opened and his heavy footsteps quickly made their way to the door of the bedroom she found herself in. Out of time, she smashed the weak glass with her foot, then kicked what remained on the bottom. The door slammed open and Cloud was reaching out to her, those alien eyes locked onto hers.

"Tifa!"

She somersaulted back quickly and her shoulder grazed the only piece of furniture in the room, a small dresser drawer. She stood and moved her feet apart, then picked up the wooden furniture and hurled it into his chest as heard as she could. He toppled over and shoved off the now busted dresser, splinters from broken drawers catching his arms and face.

Tifa took what little precious time she had and ran to the window. There was still glass bits here and there glistening on the bottom, but the scratches wouldn't be that deep, she estimated. She squeezed through as Cloud began to stand up again, the tiny shards scraping her exposed abdomen and her arms. She gritted her teeth and hung from the window by her gloved hands, took a quick breath, then fell.

She landed on her feet, turned around, and took off running after just a moment of recovery. Zangan had made sure she knew how to properly land after she told him about her disastrous trek on Mount Nibel when she was a young girl. Cloud had followed her up there, she remembered, just like he followed her now. He was always tenacious in that regard, it seemed.

Tifa felt his eyes on her as she jogged down the road. A warehouse caught her eye, and despite that horrible nightmare she had involving one she knew it was probably her best chance at stopping him. If she could use one of the metal hooks to knock him out or hit him with a barrel...

It wasn't like that would kill him.

The door was ajar already and a small chain rested on the ground nearby. She slipped inside and found the silhouette of the stairs twenty feet away. Carefully, Tifa made her way towards them and climbed the steps as quietly as she could. There were crates and steel barrels she could hide behind until she could attack.

She crouched behind a mess of crates and tucked herself behind a barrel as the door creaked ever so slightly open below her. She put a hand to her abdomen and stopped herself from hissing in pain; there was some glass bits embedded in her skin.

"Tifa, you can't keep running away." His wary voice echoed through the warehouse. "Let's go home..."

 _'Let's go home...'_ So he can butcher her in the garage with his swords. She kept her breathing shallow, short. Her eye peeked out of the gap between the barrel and a crate, watching his eyes dart about. He was watching the first floor, not what was above him.

It was hard to see much else, even though her eyes had mostly adjusted to the lack of light. The faintest glow issued from the large windows above but it was barely enough for her to see the outline of the objects littering the floor beyond, or the shadow of Cloud's spiky hair as he looked about for her.

"Please come out, Tifa. This isn't what you think it is."

She flexed her fists. She was growing angry with him. How was he supposed to justify torturing and murdering children, trying to kill Denzel? The thought made her scowl. After everything, he thought she was stupid or gullible enough to think he either had a good excuse or that she would come out of hiding so he could take care of her.

He sighed. "Please...This place isn't safe to be in as it is."

By her feet she found a little chunk of rusted metal, and she picked it up slowly. She wrapped her fingers around it and bit her lip. Tifa held her breath as she wound up her arm and threw it as hard as she could; she was rewarded with a loud clang near the opposite wall.

She heard Cloud move towards the sound, and as quickly as she could she charged and leapt from the railing after coming out of her hiding spot. Cloud turned around too late; she landed on top of him, making him stumble backwards as her thighs straddled his shoulders.

"Ti-ack!"

She pummeled his head as he fell back onto a few barrels. He violently shifted his shoulders as he twisted to the side and she was torn off of him as his hands peeled away her legs. He was panting.

"Damn it..."

Tifa skidded to a stop and flipped onto all fours, sneering up at those blue eyes she used to lose herself in. She tensed and he noticed she was about to attack. There was the distant sound of a siren growing closer outside. She just had to survive until the police reached the area, and this nightmare could end.

She rushed him, the light yellow glow emanating from her as she readied her spirit attack barely illuminating Cloud's bleeding face. His eyes were narrowed and his jaw was tight, and his arms came out in a defensive position. His eyes flickered side to side.

He didn't dodge the attack she unleashed on him that would have put a lesser man into a hospital. She slammed him into a stack of barrels and kicked at his chest, and his hand came out to grasp at her bicep. Tifa twisted her arm to dislodge his hand and pummeled him again before jumping from his chest and landing ten feet away in a crouch. She stood up and brought her fists back up.

She noticed finally that he hadn't brought his swords with him. It meant he wasn't planning to kill her right away after all. It was a terrible mistake on his part, much like his forgetfulness with the ribbon. In his haste to capture her, he hadn't thought things through. She knew it was dumb luck for her, but it only bought her and the police time.

Cloud's leg twitched, then he slowly stood up. She readied herself to attack again. He shook his head and sniffed back blood, then those blue eyes turned to stare at her. He was holding something long in his hand in the darkness. "That's enough of this little game, Tifa."

No. It couldn't be. She touched her arm. The ribbon was gone! Tifa took a step back as her eyes grew wide. "Don't you-"

Cloud thrust his hand out, and a green orb glowed on his leather gauntlet. A shimmer of green danced in his irises. " _ **Sleep.**_ "

Tifa was suddenly falling forward, and the last thing she remembered were Cloud's arms catching her and that lonesome siren wail coming closer.


	12. Just Another Monster

**A/N: Huge thank you to kelleyj17 for her suggestions and nitpicking this chapter to perfection. It's a big one, and I really needed some help making it feel just right.**

* * *

She heard a soft knocking sound. It sounded like someone was at a door nearby.

"Tifa? Are you home?" came a muffled voice. She let out a soft little grunt.

A sigh came from nearby. "No one's here, Evan. Go home," replied a quiet little whisper. There was another knock from below.

Tifa's consciousness slowly returned her to reality. She was on something soft and warm, and she noticed her limbs were in a spread eagle position. Something smooth was holding them firmly. There was the sound of something to her right shifting about softly, like fabric on fabric.

Her eyes flickered open, blinking quickly in the dark room. Tifa noticed she was on a bed. Their bed, the familiar furniture and trinkets greeting her eyes as she looked forward towards the wall and door to the hall. She tried moving her hand out of instinct, despite already knowing it was bound.

She turned her head slowly towards the sound of a soft huff. Cloud was crouching by the window, watching something outside. One hand was on the window sill and the other was playing with a green materia. It rolled between his gloved thumb and index finger, the faint emerald glow threatening under the circumstances. Which was it? Lightning, Demi? Was he going to slowly torture her for the trouble she put him through?

She thought he just might. The Fusion Sword rested on the wall next to him; whatever he planned to do to her wasn't going to be pretty.

The knocking stopped, and she heard Evan's muffled voice. "Tifa?" He sounded worried.

Tifa gasped. The sound alerted Cloud that she was finally awake, and his head snapped towards her. His blue eyes widened and his fingers wrapped around the materia in his hand. They locked eyes before she inhaled a lungful of air. "Eva-"

" **Silence**."

Her heart caught in her throat as he stood up and walked the few paces to the side of the bed. He put a finger to her lips; it quickly left them as her teeth snapped at his digit.

There was another knock, harder and faster.

Cloud listened again, then studied her before he rubbed the leather binding that held her to the bed. "I've had a lot of practice putting these on you just right," he said in a dry manner. "Not too loose, not too tight...Just right," he whispered as his fingers trailed down to her arm. Tifa violently flailed her bound limb, and his hand slowly left her skin and fell to his side.

He looked her in the eye. "I got you out of there right before the authorities found us," he explained quietly. "But I guess Evan may have caught wind."

She struggled but the straps wouldn't budge, she knew. They were soft behemoth leather and strapped to the metal bed frame. Her face revealed her feelings; she felt betrayed and heartbroken. "You monster..." she mouthed.

Cloud flinched at the wordless accusation, then he crossed his arms. His eyes looked pained. "I didn't want to do this to you."

She made a face at him, and to her surprise he shrunk back a little. "What else was I supposed to do? You kept running away and attacking me."

Tifa rolled her eyes. What else was _she_ supposed to do? Cloud frowned. "Do you really think I was going to do something to you?" he whispered.

She looked at her bound limbs, then glared at him. Cloud gave her a withering look. "After that little chase, why wouldn't I tie you down?"

She couldn't help herself and tried yelling at him, but all that came out was her breath. Her head rose from the pillows and her arms pulled against the bindings as he watched her helpless outburst. Tifa was grimacing up at him and straining against the straps. She collapsed back onto the bed and quivered a few breaths. What did it matter? He caught her. She looked up with tear streaked cheeks, and his brows knitted together in concern. A strange sensation came over her as the spell that muted her came undone.

"Tifa...please just calm down so we can talk. I don't want to chase you down or fight you again, okay?"

"Calm down?" she hissed. "I wake up bound to the bed, and you want me to calm down?" Her voice was rising.

"Shhh. I don't want Evan involved any more than he is now. You can run to him in the morning if you want," he said bitterly.

"This isn't making me feel like I'm going to live to see another sunrise, Cloud." Tifa moved her limbs a little.

He sighed and placed his hand on her arm, making her shudder. "I told you I wasn't going to hurt you, Teef. I just wanted to explain everything."

Tifa scoffed. "Explain? You murdered children, Cloud! You tortured and killed children!"

He narrowed his eyes. "I never touched a child, the thought never crossed my mind!"

She gave him a skeptical look. "You said Rui attacked Denzel, and you're Rui. Stop treating me like I'm stupid."

"I saved him!" He was squeezing his fists at his sides. Cloud looked away and relaxed his grip. He took in a few deep and slow breaths before looking back at her. "I should have talked to you a long time ago, Tifa. I'm sorry, but I wanted to do this and not involve you. I just...need you to understand."

"What is there to understand about torturing people like that?" she whispered harshly.

He looked down at the straps holding her, then back into her eyes. "A lot," he whispered. "I'll leave you alone after I tell you. You deserve the truth after all you've gone through. I'm sorry."

Tifa huffed. As upset as she was, she needed to know. "...Fine. I'll listen, Cloud."

He stared into her eyes, then quickly took the straps off of her limbs. He situated himself onto the edge of the bed after he freed her right leg, slouched with his elbows on his knees. Tifa stretched herself and rubbed her abdomen; the glass and cuts were gone. He must have healed them up, she realized. She scooted to the corner of the bed, giving her a foot or so of space between them.

Cloud took in a deep breath, but didn't take his eyes from the floor. "You know that sometimes I have...bad days. I...I don't talk to you about it like I should have. I wanted to handle them alone because I didn't want you to think I was even more fucked up in the head than you already knew."

He blew a sigh out. "I didn't want you to run away from me," he said in a barely audible whisper.

She crossed her arms, her shoulders stiff with tension. "You did the opposite of what you set out to do," she scolded. Everything he had done this evening replayed in her head. Chasing her through Edge, cornering her several times before finally sleeping her after pulling off her ribbon...

Cloud let out a bitter, mirthless chuckle as he glanced at her. "Yeah. I don't blame you, Teef." He turned his head away from her. "I'm just some manufactured monster you kindly gave some semblance of a family to."

Tifa frowned. She never thought of him as a 'manufactured monster', just violently insane as of late. He never came off as a monster until now, and even that feeling depended on what he had to say. That and any discrepancies would tip the scales in one direction or the other. "Just tell me why, Cloud."

He looked back at her, and those blue eyes were drowning in sorrow. "I never told you what I remember from under the mansion. The things they did to Zack and me because we fought Sephiroth and survived."

A flicker of anger made his eyes glow just a little bit brighter for a moment. "It was the first time in my life that I was afraid that I might be going crazy. I didn't know what was real. They made me doubt my memories, everything that I felt or thought. Even worse, they made Zack doubt me. They turned us against each other when we had no one else to turn to. The ways he hurt me..." Cloud's eyes narrowed and he clenched his jaw. "The ways they made him hurt me..."

He turned his head and closed his eyes before taking a few tense breaths. "But...that was a picnic compared to what they did next. After Hojo pumped us full of modified Jenova cells and mako, after he pushed us to our limits and we pushed Hojo to his, he brought his...associates in."

Tifa cocked her head as a feeling of unease grew in her stomach. "What could they have possibly done to you two?" She mentally cringed as she remembered what Hojo did to Vincent all by himself. But still, Cloud was not Vincent. Vincent wasn't going about on a murder spree.

He opened his eyes and gazed down at the floor again. "A lot of things. A lot of things I didn't want to tell you about, because you'd run away from me."

She shook her head. "I ran away because I saw the pictures of what you did, Cloud. I ran away because I thought you were going to kill me next."

He squeezed the mattress with his fists and closed his eyes. "Let me explain why I did what I did, Tifa. You know me better than anyone on the Planet."

Tifa sighed and looked away. "I thought I did."

"You do. I'm just an idiot for not telling you about this part of my past." Cloud let out a little huff, and Tifa looked back at him. He was chewing on his lip as his eyes looked to and fro at the floorboards.

Cloud looked back up at her, and the sides of his mouth twitched downward. "Did you know S-cells and mako can let a human withstand a biopsy without anesthesia? Or heal broken bones relatively quickly? Or make your skin grow back in a day or so, or that a lot of poisons just hurt like hell but won't finally kill you?"

Tifa shook her head. It sounded absurd, even if he could withstand things that could kill a normal human. "That...that's not possible..."

His eyes narrowed. "Do you think I'm lying?" he asked evenly. "Even after the fight with Sephiroth, after he skewered me?"

She swallowed hard, but nodded. "You've been lying this whole time to me. I have no idea if I'm being told the truth or not," she admitted.

His jaw tightened but he looked away and towards his sword. "I can concede to that. I guess it can't be helped." Cloud's long fingers tapped the mattress. "What could I do to prove it to you..." His head moved to look down the hallway. "I know." He stood up and left the room, taking his powerful aura with him. It felt like a vacuum in their bedroom as Tifa sat there, listening to him walk down the hall.

He came back a minute later with a folder. Tifa raised a brow. "...What is that?"

"An old file of mine," he said matter-of-factly. He held it out to her. "I found this when I went under the mansion one day. I had a delivery to Nibelheim, and...I had to see it again. What was left of it."

Tifa slowly took the file from Cloud, and he turned on the light before sitting next to her again. Her hand rubbed the smooth file; it was probably one of the many she had given him for his office. She opened up to a black ink printed report on old paper, tiny specks of mildew about the edges.

 **Specimen S-16 is showing signs of improvement. While he still takes longer than specimen S-15 to heal, the treatments have yielded promising increases to his strength, reflexes and endurance. Indeed, the S-Cells improve human abilities far better than base Jenova cells.**

 **Specimen S-16 did not faint once during the biopsy, and his healing ability made it difficult to finish. Our team needed several clamps to hold the abdominal walls open as I completed the biopsy. All of his organs seem to be in working order. Heart rate was 170bpm, occasionally spiking at 210bpm. Blood pressure 180/90, needed to administer fluids after the operation.**

 **The liver was darker than last time, so I took a small sample to test for any issues pertaining to the experiments. Mako radiation could have mutated the organ, or it has been having a difficult time processing Dr. Millary's toxins. I will request that she stop her testing for a week so I can go back in and check the organ.**

 **Harran**

Tifa's face paled at the cold, printed words on the yellowing paper. It could have been fabricated, she reasoned. Her finger touched a second paper; there were half a dozen pages. She scrolled through them, reports on body function and bone growth and the removal of growths from their skin when they had been exposed to far too much mako. Their body would heal up normally, it said.

She went to the last page and realized it wasn't a report. It was a large printed picture taken from above of a dissected torso. Her jaw went slack when she recognized the tear-streaked face grimacing up at the camera, his mouth gagged and his blond spikes sticking to his face from all the sweat. His blue eyes were pleading for it to stop as a finger pointed at one of his organs. "You were right when you called me a monster," he said quietly.

Tifa said nothing back as she brought her hand to her open mouth. All she could do was stare into that desperate, terrified face frozen on the photo.

"I hid away when those memories became too much." He sucked in a breath and looked down at Tifa's hand as it again rested on the bed. She was still staring at the photo. "Sometimes I would see those people as I did deliveries, living their lives like nothing happened. That was what I was trying to do, I was trying to move on. I wanted to be happy with you and the kids, Teef."

"Because we all had sins we had to carry..." Tifa whispered. She bit her lip and flipped through the papers again, but she always went back to that horrible picture.

He nodded, but still didn't look up at her face. "I tried to forget the promises I made under the mansion. I told them if I ever lived through this I was going to make them feel every last bit of pain Zack and I felt. It was under duress, so why..." Cloud stopped and took a few moments to compose himself.

"Eli...When he showed up at the bar it was like the past was coming into my home to torment me."

Tifa turned and raised a brow. "You knew him?"

He moved his head up to look at her, then swallowed. "Yeah. He was one of my keepers under the mansion."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

Cloud looked down again and fiddled with his thumbs. "He thought he could hurt us because we were chained up, because we decided to smart off to one of the scientists who just wouldn't stop the experiments...I shut myself in the office to think over everything, what I should do."

She thought back, then nodded. "That was the last time you did that, wasn't it? You were in there for two days."

"Yeah. I left knowing what I had to do." His mechanical, icy voice sent a shiver up Tifa's spine. It was like another person had taken over.

His hands came to his sides and he squeezed the mattress. "I found out the area he lived in after stalking him earlier in the week. Then I made him feel the same pain he made us feel. I dumped his body in the sewer when I was finished and then I went to the church. I had to tell Zack what I was doing. He had to know I hadn't forgotten, and that the rest of those monsters would join Eli soon."

Tifa shifted uncomfortably where she sat as she remembered the photos Evan let her look at. "You butchered him, though," she pointed out. She chewed on the inside of her cheek as her brows knitted together as she waited for the truth.

Cloud bobbed his head in a single, slow nod as he turned to look at her. "Eli tried to get a few punches in, and I let him. I wanted him to think he had a chance to escape, just like I did all those years ago." His eyes were glowing just a little brighter, and Tifa noticed the tension in his body as he spoke about his activities. "When he knew he couldn't best me he ran off, and then I brought out my swords." He let out a long, drawn out sigh and turned away. "Everything I did was done to us."

There was a small bout of silence that enveloped the room. "You didn't...decapitate that man?" Tifa asked.

He again brought his glowing blue eyes to hers. "I did. He apologized...I couldn't let him live, but I could make it quick and painless. He was the only one that did that, could you imagine? The others gave me half-baked crap about how it was for scientific progress and the good of humanity."

Cloud looked away and scoffed. "Arrogant pricks. You know, I started to feel like I was moving on again, too. I did horrible things, but I didn't get pleasure from what I did at all. It was just something that had to be done to resolve the past. I needed vengeance after everything they did to us."

Tifa looked down at the photo, her heart skipping a beat every time she did so. So this was why he did those things. He hadn't been insane or under Jenova's thumb. He was driven by revenge. She wondered why he couldn't have just spoken to her, but he had called himself a monster. He was hiding it because of shame.

She only had some answers to her questions, however; he said he hadn't harmed the children and she was inclined to listen to him, but she needed to know his side of the story. "But those children were tortured before they were killed, too."

Cloud looked at the window. "I killed the adults, Tifa. Every one of them had caused Zack and me more pain than you could ever imagine. I didn't once think about harming children...They never did anything to us," he whispered. "They're innocent."

Tifa shook her head helplessly. There were still so many things that didn't add up. "But that day you went out for ice cream..."

He turned his head and looked at her. "I just went out for ice cream. Denzel was recovering from shock, you were on edge. I stopped what I was doing because I didn't want any of you to worry anymore. I...I knew there were consequences, and they were affecting my family. So I stopped. Everything could go back to normal."

She wanted so badly to believe him, but the coincidences just seemed like too much. "But there were sirens right after you came home. It happened on the same day, too."

He shook his head. "Why do you think I was so upset about it, and not the other murders? They're kids." He let out a little sigh as he closed his eyes a moment, then looked pleadingly into her eyes. "Do you know how many children I've seen die because of Geostigma, and how much it hurt that I couldn't get them to the church in time? Why would I kill those I was actively trying to save?"

Tifa nodded, hesitantly agreeing. That made sense.

"You three are the most important people in my life. I had to stop for your sake. Besides, I felt a lot better. Most of them were dead and any that were still alive were reminded that someone knew what they had done. They'll live their lives looking over their shoulders for a science experiment waiting to kill them."

She leaned towards him. If Cloud wasn't the child killer but he stopped him from killing Denzel, then he at least saw who it was. "If it wasn't you...Then who hurt Denzel?"

Cloud narrowed his eyes. "The mansion's study control. A second class Soldier."

Her eyes widened. "What? There was another?"

"He was the control for our experiments. While Zack and I were given Jenova cells Hojo tinkered with, he was just a Second Class Soldier drafted into the project. I don't know why or how, we never had a chance to talk, and we didn't know his real name at the time." Cloud rubbed his hands together slowly in an effort to soothe his nerves. "Saw him plenty of times, though.

"When I went to the garage after talking to you I just knew he was gonna target Denzel while he was out. I wasn't going to let him do such a thing. I wasn't going to have someone I care about be taken away from me again, not again," he whispered, his voice tinged with anger. "I found him trying to drag Denzel away, and I hit him in the shoulder with an eight inch cannon I had in my pocket."

He looked away. "I-I think it was my fault. I think I inspired him. But I never thought someone would be that depraved...I only went after those that directly affected Zack and me. But he went after Shinra personnel's children indiscriminately."

"But why? Why would he do that to children...?"

Cloud shrugged. "Kids are easier prey than adults. More trusting. Maybe somehow, Hojo screwed him up worse in the head than the number he did on me."

They sat quietly for several minutes, both focused on the other without looking at each other. Cloud was so very still, and Tifa was rubbing her knees with her fingers as she processed everything. Part of her was relieved, and another part of her was filled with so much sorrow. All the pain he held inside!

Cloud let out a huff through his nose and bobbed his head in a strong nod. "I'll fix this, Teef. I'll make sure Denzel doesn't have to worry about anything like that again. I promise," he said grimly.

Cloud jumped a little as he felt Tifa's arm wrap around his lower back, and his mouth went dry when he felt her warm hair against his bicep. He eyed her. "T-Tifa?"

"We'll do it together, Cloud. You don't have to fight alone."

His breath hitched in his throat. He really didn't know what to say, so he sat there dumbfounded for a moment. "After everything I did..."

She looked up into his eyes. "You should have told me about what happened. We're supposed to be there for each other when we need it, right?"

He cautiously put an arm around her shoulder, and lowered his forehead to the crown of her head. She didn't recoil, and he relaxed into her. "Yeah..."

Tifa shook her head. "You make things so much harder on yourself," she whispered. "You just end up making me worry."

She heard him sniffle and weakly chuckle. "I guess I'm a screw up, huh?"

She gave him a gentle squeeze. "No...just a pain in the ass." Tifa let out a little sigh. "Please tell me you'll move on after we get this guy, please."

His head moved in a nod on her head. She moved her head to look at his face; it was streaked with tears, just like hers. Tifa rubbed his cheek tenderly. "We'll move on with our lives together."

That was the reassurance he needed. He wasn't alone unless he made it so, and he knew he shouldn't have. Maybe she could have talked him out of the things he did if he had just spoken up sooner—when had she not been supportive? Even when she wondered if he was just a lump of Jenova cells mimicking her memory of a boy named Cloud, she stayed by his side.

He went in to give her a kiss on her forehead but froze as a click came from downstairs. Cloud's glowing eyes narrowed and Tifa stopped breathing as footsteps moved about downstairs. He quietly stood up and fetched the Fusion Sword, then split off a blade before shutting off the light and sneaking to one side of the door.

The footsteps came closer and Tifa positioned herself behind the bed, ready to toss a pillow at the intruder before leaping in for an attack. Up the stairs they came, cautious and slow. Once in a while they would stop altogether if they caused the steps to creak too loudly.

Tifa ignored the sweat on her forehead and the burning in her eyes as she refused to blink. Her focus was on the door and the footsteps coming ever closer to the bedroom. Cloud was positioned in such a way that if he needed to he could grab the intruder. She wondered if it was Evan, and hoped Cloud would identify who was breaking into their home before cutting them down.

The footsteps shuffled, and there was another sound—like fabric grinding on the wall. It stopped right outside the bedroom, and all she or Cloud could hear was the sound of their heartbeats pounding in their ears.

Suddenly the tall intruder entered into the room, pointing a gun in front of him then looking around wildly. He only had a chance to glance at Cloud before the shorter man tackled him by the neck and to the ground, his sword clattering to the floor as he grabbed the hand holding the gun.

Tifa stood there dumbfounded, her jaw slack.

"Son of a bitch! What did you do to Tifa?!" It was Evan, and he was struggling hopelessly against Cloud's powerful grip; he was in the process of disarming his opponent. Evan thrashed about and punched Cloud as hard as he could in the jaw, causing him to grunt before he slammed the detective against the ground. The gun slid across the floor and out of Evan's reach.

"Evan, Cloud!" Tifa walked behind Cloud and shook his shoulder. "I'm alright, Evan."

Cloud let him go, and the detective shoved himself up and away from the spiky haired warrior. He studied Cloud, then Tifa as he caught his breath. "I found your phone," he began. "Someone called up and said there was a woman being chased around by a man with glowing blue eyes." He gave Cloud a hard stare.

Cloud and Tifa looked at each other, silently communicating through their eyes. She looked back at Evan. "I...misinterpreted some evidence, and Cloud and I had a little spat." She took in a deep breath. "I understand the situation now, and Cloud knows who the murderer is."

"If you knew, why didn't you say anything?" Evan asked in a harsh voice.

Cloud shook his head. "Just today, and I...I wanted to take care of him myself," he admitted.

Evan stared at him incredulously. "I-What? That's for the law to decide, not you."

The warrior sighed, and decided to throw him a bone. "Evan. This is...a bit personal. Not just because he almost killed Denzel. I...Do you know anything about Shinra's Science Department?"

Evan nodded. His mother had been one of the handlers of those Sephiroth Copies he read about. Cloud and Tifa assisted him in his search for her.

"Well, the killer is messed in the head because of Hojo." He made a face; that was as much him as it was the copycat. "And I used to know him. This is mercy just as much as it is revenge, Evan."

"If he ever got out of prison, and there's a good possibility of that since he's an altered human...He could go after all of us next time," Tifa added. "I know we're supposed to be moving on from the lawless period that occurred right after Meteorfall, but please...Trust us to make this right."

The detective bit his lip. These weren't just his neighbors, they were friends that helped him when he needed it most. Cloud took Vits to safety after he was in that warehouse, didn't he? The detective looked at Tifa, and she gave him a wavering smile. She wouldn't lie about the situation after everything. He nodded slowly. If the murders would just stop, that was what he wanted most.

"Who did this?"

Cloud licked his lips and took in a deep breath. "Raz."


	13. Confrontation

The truck trundled along the dusty road that would take them from Edge to Junon, the driver's hawkish gaze on the horizon or on the barren wastelands in case of an attack by monsters. Denzel watched as the plains slowly grew darker out the window, mindlessly chewing on a sandwich Marlene had handed him ten minutes ago.

He still hadn't the urge to speak.

Denzel wished desperately that he was still in Edge, with Cloud. He had sincerely thought he would die in that alley, and waking up to Cloud protectively hovering over him gave him a pang of nostalgia. His voice had been cracking with relief and guilt as he carefully helped him up and gave Denzel a tender hug.

He swallowed his bite and stared out the window. Jared was murdered, and he almost had the same fate. But Cloud came for him. He saved him from whomever it was that wanted him dead for whatever reason. Denzel felt he had to trust in Cloud to find the maniac before any more people died. He was a hero, and that was what heroes did.

"Can't believe the damn ferry was closed. The serial killer ain't leavin' Edge, so why'd the cops close it?" Barret grumbled as he switched on the lights of the truck. Grass was beginning to grow on the sides of the road, illuminated by the shoddy headlights.

He had originally tried to navigate through pedestrian filled streets towards the ferry that led to Junon, and then another ferry that went to Costa del Sol. As they approached and went into line they were told that they were too late; they were closing the ferry on the recommendation of the Edge police. After arguing and much grumbling Barret again braved Edge's busy streets, towards the only road that headed to Junon. It had been a sluggish drive until they made it to the outskirts of the city.

"They can't be too careful, Papa." Marlene looked over at Denzel, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you doing okay, Denzel?"

Denzel turned his head slowly to look at her. He could always count on her to ask how he was feeling, ever since his Geostigma days. He nodded slightly, then returned his gaze to the window. Now wasn't the time to speak.

He looked at the sideview mirror and noticed a pair of headlights approaching behind them. It looked like an old truck model, the lights a little dingy and yellowish in the twilight. Barret took a glance of his rearview mirror, then back at the road in front of him. "He's in a hurry."

Denzel observed that the vehicle was accelerating, then as it came almost too close it moved into the lane next to them. As it came to their side he looked over, and a chill went down his spine as two tiny, cold, blue lights stared back at them from the window, dulled somewhat from two panes of glass and distance.

Barret looked over and waved his hand. "Get ahead of us, jackass!"

Denzel had just enough time to hold Marlene to him before the truck smashed into the side of their vehicle.

Barret held steady as the sound of wheels squealing on asphalt assaulted their ears. The truck swayed and Marlene screamed as the airbags popped out. The assaulting vehicle left their side, and Barret hit the brakes as the maniac came in for another attack. Barret's truck was swiped by the back end of the other vehicle and twirled about on the abandoned road, nearly tipping as it skidded to a stop on the wheels of its left side before shifting onto all fours again.

Denzel was shaking as he unbuckled his seatbelt, then helping Marlene undo hers. Barret was stringing together a variety of words that damned the maniac that recklessly hit their truck. "Stupid mother fucker!" Barret turned to the two children and softened his voice. "Are you two alright?"

Marlene moved her arms and legs a little. "I'm fine, Papa."

Denzel felt a pop in his neck. "Yeah..."

"Oh, you talked! I was worried you lost your voice."

"No Mar, I just didn't—" He remembered those glowing blue eyes. "Barret, we need to get outta here!"

"Yeh, right after I jam my gun barrel up his ass we are." He eyed the other vehicle, ready to open his door to tend to the other driver.

The other truck rested on the other side of the highway, facing away from them. After a few moments, the door creaked open. The man's boots crunched in the stony dust and dry grass, then tapped against the hard asphalt of the road. There was a blade on his back and a black mask covering his face, made of soft leather. A hat covered his head.

Marlene stared at the stranger's cold blue eyes as he stopped and stood in the middle of the road. Barret had already popped open his door when Denzel grabbed his arm. "He-he's the one from the alley."

Barret looked at the boy, then the stranger. "...Yeh sure?"

Denzel was sure enough just by how threatening this man was. "He killed Jared. We need to go!"

"Something is very wrong about him," Marlene remarked quietly.

The man lifted his hand and it began to faintly glow purple. Barret wanted to turn the stranger into a range target, but there was nowhere to keep the children from seeing that, and what was more, something about that glow was putting him on edge. "Kids, put on your seatbelts."

Barret took a quick look at the gauges as he shut the door. The airbag light was on, the engine light was on but not blinking, and that was it. His dark eyes went back to the stranger; the light was growing stronger. He pulled out his phone and handed it to Marlene. "Call up Mama. Tell her we're comin' back home."

He tensed as he put the truck into drive and pressed the gas; to his relief the vehicle hadn't taken much damage from the attack, and he twisted the wheel as he returned to the road. Barret remembered that exact same sensation, of the air suddenly falling still and the violet light and the hairs on the back of his neck standing on edge. He had felt it multiple times and he had never gotten used to it.

All he knew was that he needed this head start to keep the kids safe from it.

Marlene looked through the short list of names on the phone as Denzel hung over her shoulder. She found Tifa's personal number, then called it. It went directly to voicemail. "Shoot," she hissed out.

"Try Cloud's number," Denzel hurriedly suggested.

She bit her lip and went to his number next. It began to ring, then went to voicemail. Marlene sighed harshly; they didn't need to deal with Cloud's phone flightiness now, of all times. She squeaked in surprise when not five seconds later the phone began to chime as Cloud called back. She accepted the call and put the phone up to her ear. "Cloud!"

His voice sounded a little strained, though gentle. "Hey, Marlene. Is everything alright? We don't have a lot of time to talk—"

"Cloud, the murderer is here!"

"What?!"

"He ran his truck into ours! We're going back home."

Denzel took a glance at the sideview mirror as his eyes darted about the cabin. His nostrils flared and his eyes widened as he saw two blue dots somehow gaining on Barret's truck. He couldn't see what it was, but the movement of those eyes reminded him of a galloping cat. "Cloud, he's coming after us!"

"Hold on, we're on our way!" There was a click, and the line went dead.

Barret looked out the rearview mirror and noticed they were being followed. By what, he couldn't tell, but it was getting closer. He swore, then pressed the accelerator harder. He kept glancing at the mirror, hoping to see whatever it was would be losing them. But, it was quick. Too quick. It kept gaining, minute by painstaking minute it was getting closer.

Then, he saw it leap.

"Get down, kids!"

They had just enough time to crouch in their seats as a loud thump came to their ears and the sensation of something heavy colliding with the truck bed made it swerve slightly. Denzel hurriedly fumbled with Marlene's seatbelt and then his own as shattered glass rained on their backsides. He felt pain as something sharp sliced into the skin of his shoulder, and he dropped Marlene to the floor and covered her.

It sounded like a cross between a Coeurl and some of the noises Vincent would make as the Galian Beast, in Barret's opinion at least. He had a straight bit of highway at the moment, so he took his hands off of the wheel and slammed his metal fist into the strange beast's face as hard as he could. Thrice he did it, the monster clawing at him as he jerked away after each pull of the fist.

Barret glanced at the road, then transformed his gun arm part way just so he had a shape that could hopefully gouge the creature's eye. He nearly did it, the dull metal point forcing itself between its brow bone and the eyeball. Its head left the cabin and Barret returned his attention to the road, both hands to the wheel.

Denzel and Marlene kept themselves to the floor, and Barret sped up again. The monster was recovering in the truck bed, and Barret hoped he would have an opening where he could somehow get it dislodged from his vehicle. It was still snarling and growling behind them.

A few moments later and its curved claws were peeling away the roof of the truck and attempting to hook Barret's neck. He aimed the barrel of his gun arm under the monster's jaw, but a bump in the road caused him to shoot it in the crook of its furry neck. "I got more where that came from, jackass!"

He shot at it again, barely missing its head. When one of its long, clawed paws reached upward he braced himself and hit the brakes, causing the tires to seize up and skid over the fresh pavement. The back end swayed towards the edge of the road as the monster tumbled off the truck and was hit by the broad side of the vehicle as they both came to a stop.

Barret knew he had to make a decision: keep the children in the truck or have them flee. If he could buy Cloud and Tifa time to make it here, he thought, then it was better the children were mobile and not fish in a barrel. "Kids, I'm gonna keep that thing occupied. Stay behind the truck."

Quickly he left the driver's seat, his metal arm immediately changing into what Cloud liked to call his "hand canon". The palm of his hand kept his gun arm steady as he rounded the front of the truck, listening to the sounds of the children skittering out and the hissing growls of the blue eyed monster that was partially obscured by the headlights.

He wasn't sure what to make of it. It looked like it was wearing some sort of clothing, a brown vest that spilled out into a short kilt by the looks of it. The hair on its head was much like the fur on its body, white and ending in tawny brown tufts that fleetingly reminded Barret of toasted marshmallows. The face is what threw him off: it was like a shorter snouted version of the Galian Beast, splattered with its own blood.

This wasn't just a monster.

"You th' one goin' 'round, killin' kids?" Barret asked accusingly. "Think you gonna get back at Shinra by murderin' them?"

It growled at him. Finally, in a deep and horrible voice it answered. "Any with Shinra's taint should suffer."

Barret leveled his hostile glare as the creature stood. "Children ain't a part of that. You're no better than the bastards that did that to yeh."

Its blue eyes burned into Barret's. "I bring vengeance for what they did!"

"Ain't nothin' but a damn coward!"

The monster lunged and Barret shot at it. He wasn't expecting it to take several shots to the chest and not drop; it was on him in an instant, tackling him to the the road and attempting to maul him. Barret got his legs under its hips and pushed as hard as he could, shoving the lanky beast off of him. He quickly put himself in a kneeling position and began to shooting at it again. For once he hoped Cloud was driving a little recklessly on that bike of his, because too many more hits and Barret would start feeling the effects of blood loss.

To Barret's relief the monster's legs were more vulnerable to injury than the torso. A bullet hit it in the lower left leg, limiting its ability to run for the time being. He really wasn't sure if it could recover quickly or not. The monster decided on a change in plans, and dodged behind the truck. The children ran away and towards the opposite side of the road, leaving themselves open for it to pounce on them.

Barret ran towards them, but his limbs felt so heavy. Was he really that out of shape? No, he was covered in gashes and bruises. Everything hurt. He kept his gun aimed towards the truck, and the monster leaped out of the shadows lightning quick; Barret was able to stumble into its trajectory, and saved Denzel's bleeding backside from a raking.

He felt claws and pressure on his back. "After I'm through with you, the boy dies. Feel fortunate that this is business only mixed with pleasure, or I would gut that little girl, too."

Barret's ear caught a deep vibration. "You're too late."

It bent down towards his face. "What was that, now?"

A large icicle slammed into it as the sound of tires squealed on the abandoned highway. A heavy motorcycle came to a stop and two people dismounted, one opening the main compartments on its sides and pulling out two large swords. Blue eyes that burned just as brightly as the monster's cut through the darkness.

"This ends now, Raz." Cloud readied his blades as Tifa prepared another ice spell, inching herself closer to the children as they dashed behind a nearby rock.

Raz growled out a chuckle. "Did you think you could cut out your past, S-16?"

The blond warrior scowled. "Maybe I did think that at one point, but not anymore." He looked over at Barret as he came closer to his target. He was bleeding heavily, but he was sure he would be alright if Tifa splashed him with a strong potion or a cure spell. Cloud walked by him, protecting Barret from any more attacks as Raz took a few steps back. "So, this is what Hojo did to you, huh?"

The monster shimmered, then deflated into a bloodied, roughed up Raz. His sword was off of his back now. "He made it to where I can outwardly look like a monster, a special "gift", you see. I suppose you weren't granted such a boon?"

"Can't say I have, sorry." Cloud narrowed his eyes. "Children...You killed children."

"Don't even think," Raz hissed, "that I don't know your history. You have much more blood on your hands than just a few scientists playing God."

Cloud flinched at the words spoken. It was true. "It wasn't for this."

"No, I did it purely for revenge. What's your excuse, S-16? Money? Some hippy shit philosophy?"

Cloud clenched his jaw. "I have no excuse for it, Control-1. I don't plan on excusing it. But," he began as he watched Raz's eyes flare with the mention of his lab name, "I plan on making Edge safer for the future."

"That's rich, coming from you."

Cloud charged him. "Never said it wasn't!"

Raz blocked the first sword and dodged the second before using his opening to use his foot to shove Cloud away. He came at his blond haired opponent, sending a ribbon of blood into the dust. Cloud countered quickly, slicing into Raz's wrist and splitting his hat in half. He knew the control was fast, but he didn't know how fast until now.

Tifa came into the fray next, dodging his sword before kicking it out of his hand. She sent another icicle into him despite his obvious resistance to it, then Cloud went to attack. It seemed too easy, and their intuition was correct: Raz began to glow a deep violet that enclosed him, and he was replaced by a large monster that looked like a cross between a monstrous bat, a Coeurl, and a man.

It roared like a train, then began to swipe at the two with abandon.

Raz had a frigid air about him, and Tifa decided to stop using her Ice materia. She eyed Cloud for a moment, and he nodded; they would take him out together. She went first. Tifa charged the creature, her eyes flickering about for a weak point. Raz reared up, and she decided that that would be a good start.

His mouth had a black orb of shadow growing inside of it, his front legs held out and down to balance him as his wings stretched out behind him. Tifa leaped as a gold aura glowed about her, her anger at her limit after so many weeks of fretting caught up with her. Her fist connected with Raz's jaw, shutting it closed and making him lose focus on the energy he had stored in his mouth.

She didn't let up; again and again she pummeled Raz's face, or kicked his jaw to keep it closed. Neither of them knew what would happen if he released it, and they weren't ready to find out. As she completed her limit break Raz swatted her away and to the ground with a loud thud. She rolled away as his foot went to squish her like a bug.

That was enough play time for Cloud to watch. He put his two swords together.

He let a blue aura envelope his sword and then him as he ran towards the monster. Raz lowered himself and opened his mouth, letting out rays of pure darkness. Still, Cloud charged at him. This was a loose end he wouldn't allow to get away. He leaped and landed behind Raz's head, then dragged the tip of his sword deep into his spine. Cloud ran the length of the monster's body, roaring out as his Limit Break nearly sliced the abomination in two.

The remains were tense, then released into a pile of flesh and exposed organs. Cloud wished he could feel triumphant, but in his mind all he did was cover up a part of his past. He felt like a coward, but there was nothing else that could have been done under the circumstances, he knew.

Cloud looked back at the touch of Tifa's calloused hand on his arm. He looked into her gentle eyes, silently asking if she was alright. His eyes flickered to Barret. He was sitting up on the street, holding his head as Marlene tended to him with what appeared to be a potion of some sort. Then there was Denzel, the young boy sprinting directly for him.

Cloud dropped his sword and bent down to embrace the boy he considered his son. "You're safe," he whispered into his ear.

Denzel rested his head on Cloud's shoulder. "Thanks to you, Cloud."


End file.
